Stone in Love
by Oxnate
Summary: Buffy and the Slayerettes failed – they all died. But they get a second chance. - COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Stone in Love

by Oxnate

Disclaimer: Do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Gargoyles. My title this time comes from the song Stone In Love by Journey.

Summary – Buffy and the Slayerettes failed – they all died. But they get a second chance.

Challenge response:  Challenge-4544\- (on Twisting the Hellmouth) _So the challenge should be obvious, but I'm gonna state it. I'm looking for a "Gargoyles"/BTVS cross. While there are some really good stories with this cross out there, I'm looking for one that doesn't involve the now ubiquitous YAHF label..._

* * *

Chapter 1.

Gentle reader, there are many dimensions in which Buffy Anne Summers truly existed and was a Vampire Slayer. The timeline you are aware of, however, is one of only a handful in which Buffy and most of her friends survived the Hellmouth. The trouble is that, all too often, Buffy and her friends survived only by luck and the skin of their teeth. But the odds never lie, and in most dimensions, the Slayer and most of her friends eventually died.

We join such a dimension shortly before such an event.

* * *

Catherine Madison was busy cheering for her team just like she had 20 years ago. "Go, Sunnydale, go!" wasn't much of cheer, but she had several years to improve the cheers and the gymnastics of the team and take them all the way to State (again). But she was interrupted in her multitasking – planning while cheering – when a flash took her away for a moment. She did her best to continue to cheer as if nothing had happened. She didn't realize what was happening until the third and longest such flash. They were trying to pull her out of this body. The body that she'd liberated from her good-for-nothing daughter, Amy. She could tell that they were in one of the science labs, performing a spell. She took off through the doors immediately, ignoring the sounds of anger and confusion from her teammates. The pyramid would have to wait; this was more important. She could make up some excuse later, once that Buffy bitch and her friends were dead.

* * *

Xander and Willow followed Amy out of the gymnasium. Maybe Buffy and Giles had been successful at Amy's house and had found Amy's spell book and were already undoing the spell that was killing Buffy. It was all they could think of since no one had bothered to tell them that they'd actually found Amy trapped in her mother's body there, along with Catherine's spell book.

They found the science lab Buffy and the others were in just in time. It looked like Amy's mom was about to cast a spell of some kind – hopefully a protection spell – but Amy was about to interrupt with an ax. Xander charged forward.

* * *

Giles finished the spell with only seconds to spare before Catherine-in-Amy nearly chopped Buffy in two. He decided he was horribly out of practice when it came to magic. Then again, there was a good reason he'd sworn off the Dark Arts. The girl with the ax staggered as she found herself back in her body and Giles sighed in relief. But he forgot that putting Catherine back in her own body placed her right next to him, as well as next to a goodly number of sharp implements. He was unable to defend himself from her surprise attack and received a scalpel to his shoulder for his oversight. He cried out in pain and slumped against the wall, grabbing the injured appendage. Pulling the blade from his arm, he tried to staunch the bleeding with a handkerchief tied one-handed with his other arm.

As soon as Giles hit the wall, Catherine turned her sights on Buffy, who was getting up from the table and looking mighty pissed. Buffy might be a super-powered demon fighter, however she had no natural defense against magic. With a wave of her arm, Catherine sent Buffy flying into a wall, where she slumped to the floor.

She turned her sights on Amy, who was still holding the ax Catherine had been holding when she had been in that body. She didn't look like she could use it to chop a piece of wood in half, much less a human being. "Foolish girl!" Mrs. Madison hissed. "You dare to stand against me? I am a mountain, and I will bury you in an avalanche!"

Just then, Xander ran in and tackled Amy (who was now back in her own body) to the ground.

"Xander! What are you doing?" Buffy asked as she struggled to her feet.

"Saving you?" At least he thought he was. He looked up from a very scared and sore Amy to Buffy, who just shook her head.

"More fools." Catherine cast her dread gaze to Willow, who was standing just inside the doorway. "From rock, to sand, to dust, and back again. Corsheth! As hard as their hearts are against me, make them so from head to toe!"

The spell was nearly instantaneous. One second, there were six bodies in the science room, then next, one living body and five granite statues. Catherine took a moment to admire her handiwork. But only a moment. She had to get back to the—no. She couldn't get back to the game: she had lost Amy's body. It was now and forevermore a statue. Kneeling, she traced the outline of her daughter's granite jaw where the statue lay on the ground and sighed, turning to leave the school.

* * *

_A few hours later:_

Puck came out of the mirror above the teacher's desk. It was almost certainly the only magic mirror in the world that was mounted in a high school science classroom, but he liked it there. He was learning all sorts of interesting things through it. None of the other gods and demigods knew anything about covalent and ionic bonds. None of Oberon's other children understood that this knowledge was part of what had made him more powerful. His actual power hadn't increased, but knowing HOW stuff was done allowed him to use less power for the same effect. Other demigods just threw magic at their problems until the magic solved the problem for them. Easy, but wasteful of energy. And energy was energy, no matter where it came from.

Just now, though, he wasn't pleased at all by the things he had learned through the mirror. He looked around and frowned at the five statues now decorating the room. "No, no, no, no. That's not the way it was supposed to go at all. Perhaps a witch of Catherine's caliber was too much of a challenge for you so soon. But what's done is done." He sighed and looked out the window at the setting sun. Setting sun, stone statues: his mind intermingled these thoughts. The grin that cracked his face could not be called friendly. "However… Perhaps there is a way to give you all a second chance. Now don't mess this up, because you're not going to get another shot like this, I promise you," he told the unhearing granite.

Then he began to chant. "Stone you currently are and stone you again will be. But the night is yours for now to do with as you please." He smirked as the sun set and the stone skin of the newly made gargoyles started to crack. Then he jumped back into his mirror to watch the fun.

* * *

A/N: Catherine Madison was a super strong bad guy and way too tough for the third (or second, since the first was a 2-parter) episode of the series. By all rights, Buffy and the Slayerettes (as they were then known) should have been wiped from the face of the earth by such a powerful witch. And now they are. Sort of.

Also, an ordinary mirror should have had zero chance of reflecting a spell like that. Only a magic mirror should be capable of that sort of thing. Which is how I thought of Puck and a way to change our heroes into monsters.

And finally, my muse dines on your reviews! Keep her fat and happy.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Please note Gargoyle wings in the cartoon were tiny. Not even enough to glide were it not for cartoon-physics. The ones I'll describe are probably still too small actually, but closer to what would actually be needed to do more than go SPLAT on the concrete below. More information on the wings and other thoughts on Gargoyles – which will probably contain hints/spoilers for this story – can be found in the Series Info screen. (on TTH)

Chapter 2.

Xander yawned and stretched. What a weird dream he'd just had. Amy had been a witch and was trying to kill them all and then her mother had cast a scary-sounding spell. There had been darkness and a bright tunnel. Then the tunnel disappeared and it was just like waking up from a bad dream. He opened his eyes and looked around.

And that was when the screaming started.

"Ahhhh!"

"Ah!"

"Eek!"

"Monster!" There was pointing going on all around.

"I'm not a monster! You're the monster!" More pointing.

Xander would recognize that last voice anywhere. Willow.

"Willow!?" he asked as he sat up. The monster in front of him was wearing Willow's clothes and had red hair, but that was where the similarities stopped. For example, Willow did not have green skin or glowing red eyes. The monster's feet swept back to a false knee much like a dog or a cat's feet did. From there they came forward to the true knee which was topped by a sharp spike that looked like it came out of the kneecap. From there, the legs went up to short but powerful-looking thighs. The monster's elbows also had sharp spikes on them and the hands sported three sharp talons and a fourth 'thumb' talon. Its head was decorated with three pairs of small horns going up its forehead. Behind it, well Xander wasn't sure what he was looking at, but it looked to his teenaged nerd brain like two ninja swords sticking up from the monster's back.

"Xander!?" the Willow-voiced monster asked. Its face contorted in confusion and the red glow started dying down. Her Xander-shaped friend (as Buffy had put it earlier that day) was no longer Xander-shaped at all. In fact, he looked kinda demony-shaped. The glowing white eyes were a dead giveaway.

Xander looked next to himself on the floor where a blonde haired monster was cowering with a fireman's ax. He remembered landing on a blonde girl right before they all... "Amy?"

She nodded. "I think my mother—"

"Giles!" Buffy screeched and cut off Amy's explanation. The monster in question looked over to see another female monster. But its hair was not blonde as Buffy's had been and was, instead, a soft chestnut. It was looking at its talons. "She turned us into monsters!" the Buffy-monster screeched.

Giles got to his feet, pulling off a blood-stained handkerchief and examining the torn shirt beneath. He was astonished to find that the rather serious wound he had just received was no more. He rolled his shoulders as he stood and wings snapped out to either side. The small science lab they had awoken in wasn't wide enough for them to fully expand, though, and he clumsily tried to retract them. The other four monsters in the room quickly started looking over their own shoulders for evidence of wings. Xander spun around and swept the table behind him clean of glass beakers. Instinctively, his wings came up to protect his face from the flying shards of glass as the beakers hit the ground. Wings and tails started moving clumsily this way and that as the monsters got used to moving their new appendages.

"I don't think we're monsters, Buffy," the British librarian said, rather more calmly than he felt.

"Giles! I look like the things I slay!" Buffy complained. She was in the back of the room and could see the mirror over the teacher's desk reflecting her image back at her. At least her eyes had stopped glowing red. That had been... shudder-worthy.

"We're not monsters, Buffy," Willow said as she examined her own delicate wings, the small horns above her eyes, and the pieces of stone 'shell' around their feet. "I think we're gargoyles."

* * *

The newly christened gargoyles were gathered around the main table in the library. Gargoyle-Amy was still clutching her ax like a security blanket, never mind the fact that her talons were now likely stronger and sharper than the ax.

"As Willow was saying, I don't believe we are monsters. Obviously, we each remember who we are and none of us have the desire to feast on human flesh. Correct?" he asked while Willow typed carefully on the keyboard. It was her second keyboard; they had borrowed it from another computer after her new talons had accidentally destroyed the first. She was also typing slower than normal due to the fact that gargoyles only have four digits on each hand. She never really realized how much she used her pinky fingers for typing until she didn't have them any more. "The council has been tracking this since they've re-emerged. But Slayers are not the only force fighting evil in the world, just one of the strongest."

"Wait, what happened to 'One Girl in all the World'?" Xander interrupted.

"Well- well there's obviously only _one girl in all the world_ who's the Slayer at any given time. You didn't take that to mean that there's only one person in the world fighting demons and evil, did you? Because that would be ridiculous. We'd have been overrun by demons millennia ago." Giles shook his head at that silly notion.

"Oh? Uh, no. Of course not," Xander denied quickly.

Giles nodded. "If I may then? Where was I? Not the only force fighting evil. Yes. Many centuries ago, there were beings known as gargoyles who guarded humans while they slept. They were living creatures that turned to stone during the day. Over the years, many clans of gargoyles took up residence on castles."

"You mean that those statues on castles and churches are flesh and blood?" Buffy looked unconvinced. She was pretty sure she had seen lots of those statues at night when they would have been alive.

Giles shook his head. "Not all of them. In fact, almost none today are. At first, many were imitations rather like insect species that imitate poisonous relatives to ward off predators. And more and more became imitations as true gargoyles became rarer and rarer, falling into myth and legend. The council has recently become aware that a clan has become active in New York City, of all places." He indicated the computer screen where Willow had brought up a whole host of pictures and news articles about gargoyles and people in New York who they had saved and/or attacked, depending on which article you read. Apparently, she'd been following this story as well. "There's also a largish clan in Japan that hasn't been killed or gone into hiding—yet," he finished.

"So, gargoyles are good guys? Were you planning on telling me this before or after I slayed one?" Buffy prodded.

"Before, obviously." Giles frowned at the accusation. "But seeing as you weren't planning on traveling to New York or Japan any time soon and they didn't look to be coming here presently either, I thought it best not to confuse you with the idea that not all that stalks the night might necessarily be evil. As there is almost certainly nothing attracted to the Hellmouth that you wouldn't want to slay on sight. Anyway, back to the point: gargoyles are not evil."

There was several seconds of silence after that. "That's it? Your point is that gargoyles aren't evil?" Xander asked, his tone full of accusatory exasperation.

"Well, that was the point I wanted to make before Buffy attempted to slay us all. Which seemed rather prudent at the time." Giles shrugged. "Now that she knows not to slay us, we can discuss other things."

"Like changing us all back?" Buffy pointed out.

"I vote for chopping her head off. The spell book thing didn't quite cut it last time," Xander said coldly.

"Indeed." Giles nodded.

"I- I- I'm not sure that will work," Amy spoke up.

Willow went over to Amy, her dark green skin and red hair contrasting with Amy's dark golden skin and pale blonde hair. "I know she's your mother, Amy, but—"

"No," Amy cut her off. "I mean, I know she's powerful, but I don't think she's _this_ powerful. And I don't think her spell would have turned us into gargoyles. It sounded like we were going to be turned into stone."

"Which is what gargoyles spend their days as," Giles pointed out. He was holding onto hope that the witch had done this, simply for the children's sake if nothing else. Quite frankly, any other cause of this situation would likely be beyond his ability to research, much less his skill to undo. Not that he would tell them as much.

"So, we find the witch and slay?" Xander gently took the ax from Amy at last.

"_I_ slay," Buffy said, taking the ax from Xander somewhat less gently.

Xander frowned but decided against playing tug of war with the ax. "Says who? 'Cause newsflash for you Buff, but ya ain't the Slayer no more."

Buffy looked down at her mottled brown and green body.

"Oh, dear lord. He's right, Buffy, poor grammar aside. For the time we were stone, it is entirely likely that the Slayer essence deemed you deceased and moved on to the next Slayer."

"Wait. So I'm free?" Buffy asked incredulously.

Giles shrugged noncommittally. That was not the point he was trying to make. "Possibly. Once we are returned to our true form, we can call the council to confirm. But for now, perhaps you and Xander can arm wrestle. If the two of you are close in strength, then it is likely that you are no longer the Slayer."

Xander agreed and sat down across from Buffy. They both gently put their elbows on the table as everyone's elbows and knees now held rather sharp, boney spikes. Xander had been expecting to either slam her hand into the table or get his own slammed down but that was not to be. For whatever reason, he hadn't been mentally ready for gargoyle strength from both of them. A quick surge by Buffy was met by his own, forcing their hands back to the middle. Buffy redoubled her efforts and Xander responded. Soon both of them had their wings rigidly propped out from their backs but still folded. Their talons and elbow spikes dug into the table to gain more leverage, each trying to push the other's hand toward the hard wood.

Giles broke them apart. "Alright. That's enough to prove that Buffy is no longer the Slayer."

Buffy huffed as she let go and stood up. "So now what?"

"Well, we need to end this spell yet. In the only way left to us." He cast a sorrowful glance at Amy.

"It's alright. I understand. She stole my body from me. Twice now. But would you mind if I stayed here? I don't think I could actually do it," Amy requested.

"Me too?" Willow added. "I don't think I could... _do it_ either." Also, she didn't want to leave Amy alone. She really needed a friend right now, and while Willow hadn't been that great of a friend recently – _what kind of friend doesn't notice when that friend gets _possessed_?_ – she could be that friend for her now.

Giles nodded. "Of course. We'll be back before daybreak even if we can't find her. Hopefully we'll know the spell is ended when we all change back. In the meantime, Willow, do you think you could start helping Amy research this? Just in case." She nodded and he turned to leave. "Where are you going?" he asked the two who were supposedly coming with him. They stopped and turned back, having been walking the opposite direction.

"To the roof of course," Buffy answered, pointing up.

"Yeah. The one time in our lives where we have wings." Xander unfurled his slightly, as much as he could with other gargoyles and furniture in the way. "And I'm not going to miss out on taking them for a spin."

"Oh, very well," Giles sighed and followed the children to the roof.

* * *

The staircase up to the roof was old and rather narrow. Luckily Giles had a key, so they didn't need to break in, but the climb up was tight and rather cramped. Stepping onto the roof, the three of them instinctively separated before unfurling their wings fully.

"Ow, ow, ow!" both teenagers started yelling.

"Come over, let me see," Giles said. They came over and turned their backs and wings to him. "Ah, I see the problem. The holes our wings made in our clothing were not large enough to accommodate the rest of the webbing once the wings were unfurled."

"In English?" Buffy asked the night sky. She felt a slight pressure, then heard a ripping sound and felt a slight breeze on her back. A second ripping sound hit her ears a second later. She gave a soft mewl at the sound of her top being ruined. Well, ruined more than it had been already.

"It means that there is webbing on our wings that extends down to each of our hips. Without this, we would not be able to fly," Giles said as he repeated the process for Xander.

"I'm going to kill her," Buffy growled. "Kill us, turn us into monsters, fine. But ruining my clothes is just evil."

* * *

Once Buffy had ripped Giles' clothing for him, they all spread out and opened their wings again. Each wing was huge. Nearly twice each of their heights, so that each of their combined wingspans measured no less than 24 feet across, and Xander and Buffy both had longer wings than Giles. _For reference,_ Giles thought to himself, _in the United States, a residential street with two lanes for driving and one for parking generally measures 28 feet from curb to curb. This means that we should need to stay well above the ground in urban areas._

The wings jutted from the gargoyles' backs rather like another set of arms. The muscles that powered the wings were quite large, especially the ones closest to the back, where most of the leverage came from. It was much like a chicken wing, wherein the meat/muscle is right where the wing joins the rest of the body, and there is less muscle the further down the wing you go. The same is true for gargoyles. Right on their backs and the first foot or so of the wing were large and powerful muscles – their biceps, so to speak – that were very strong. The rest of the limbs were much like normal arms and legs until you got to the 'hands' and 'feet.' Apparently gargoyles had evolved with only 4 digits per limb and the wing was no exception. Three digits in each wing were elongated and connected by a flexible membrane which also connected to the body from 'armpit' to hip. When they spread the digits of these 'hands' the wings unfurled. The fourth digit, what could be called a thumb, stuck up from the wing and could probably be used for many things. Giles found that their primary purpose was to clasp each other when not in use to keep the wings out of the way, either behind the back or in front of the chest. Hanging the wing arms over their shoulders and hooking their 'thumbs' together would make the wings look rather like they are wearing a cloak wrapped around them.

"Saint Buddha, these things are huge!" Xander exclaimed as he finally got to stretch his wings out.

"They must be, in order to support our weight without our falling out of the sky," Giles replied, looking up from examining his own wings. "Bird wings vary, but all are measured in multiples of their height." Their wings were rather bat-like and he was wracking his brain for facts about the larger bat species. Specifically, how they flew and the comparisons of wingspan to height. He knew that there had been species of Pterodactyl that weighed far more than any human and yet flew, so he knew flight was possible despite his weight. There was nothing for it now but to be the first to test them. If nothing else, perhaps they would simply allow him to glide to the ground.

Buffy gave hers a test flap and found herself blown backward into Giles. Or rather, Giles' wing, but he used the new appendage quite skillfully to put her back on her feet/claws/whatever. She flashed him a fangy smile of thanks before looking around. "Wow. I've never been up here before. You can see the whole town from up here," Buffy noted.

"Yes, yes. Now if we can get on with jumping to our deaths?" Giles bit out sarcastically. "I will go first, and the two of you will follow me. We will be landing short of the Madison house as this will be the first time for all of us landing, and it's likely to be a bit rough. Don't be embarrassed if your landing isn't perfect. Any questions?"

When there were none, Giles turned and ran for the roof ledge. Reaching it, he crouched and pushed off with all his might. It surprised him just how high he was able to leap in his new form. He guessed it had to be 15-20 feet off the already tall building. At the apex of his jump, he snapped his wings open, then dove. Shortly above the level of the roof, his wings caught the wind properly and started to provide lift as he glided away. Glancing backwards, he saw the other two following his example. An instinctual flick of his tail adjusted his course over the residential streets. Not having to follow the mostly grid-layout of the main streets of Sunnydale would save them considerable time. And the heat of the day radiating off the houses and streets was giving him added lift. He gazed far off to where he could see the subdivision the Madison house was in. He was surprised to find Buffy and Xander pull even with him. "How-?"

"We have _wings_, Giles," Buffy chided gently. "Flap them occasionally and we'll get there faster." She grinned, showing off her new, sharper teeth.

"We'll get there soon enough just gliding and we'll be less tired for it," Giles countered.

* * *

Xander watched as first Giles and then Buffy launched themselves from the roof without crashing to the ground and dying painfully. _Okay. I can do this. Just stop thinking about it. Run and... Jump! _ His mental reminder came almost too late as he nearly overran the edge of the roof. Newly empowered muscles launched him up in the air with terrific force, nearly leaving his stomach behind in the process. He spread his new wings instinctively, and they caught the air and gave him support as he floated above the city.

The sensation is hard to describe to those who don't have wings. If you can remember your childhood and had a parent who would lift you in the air by your arms, it's a bit like that. Except that the wings were attached to Xander's entire torso by webbing so it felt more like laying on a giant trampoline and doing a Superman pose so that only your stomach was supported by the nylon. The webbing connected down his side and pulled his stomach taut with the force of the air pushing his wings up. Every minute change in his wing shape had an effect on his flight. If you've ever held your hand out the window of a car going at highway speeds and felt how moving your hand in the wind provided lift or down force, you have a slight idea what that felt like to Xander.

Speaking of Superman... Xander grinned as he thrust both fists forward and started humming the Superman theme song from the old TV show. "Da da daaah, da datadata daaah!" Then, "Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Xanderman!" He glanced up ahead but neither of the other two gargoyles looked back, so they probably hadn't heard him. He tucked his wings back against his body and could actually feel the improvement in aerodynamics reflected in his airspeed.

As he looked up ahead, he saw Buffy beat her wings a couple of times. Xander gave the signal to his own wings to copy her and instantly regretted it. Not only did he nearly leave his stomach behind on the downbeat—though it wasn't quite as bad as when he jumped off the roof—but at the apex of his trajectory he felt that completely weightless feeling and nearly lost the meager contents of his stomach anyway.

He locked his wings and started gliding again. He wasn't sure he ever wanted to do that again and rested for a few seconds as his stomach settled. Up ahead, he saw Buffy was flapping again and gaining on Giles. Xander set his jaw. He couldn't let Buffy think he was weak; too weak to fly. He steeled himself and started flapping away, ignoring his stomach's protests until they went away. Which was about the time that he and Buffy caught up with Giles.

"I have a question," Xander spoke up. "Out of the five of us, including three girls, why am I the only one who's colored purple? I mean, I would have been fine with anyone's coloring except my own. Why is that?"

"Because you're picky," Buffy teased. "I think it's a pretty color."

"I look like Barney," Xander complained.

"An evil, scary version of Barney, maybe," Buffy quipped back.

"I say! I resemble that remark!" Xander laughed. "Besides, Barney is evil and scary enough on his own."

"Totally," Buffy agreed.

"No one knows how gargoyle colorings are chosen. It seems to be somewhat independent of their parents' colors, if what I remember from my books is correct," Giles broke in before a fight could start. Still, he was happier with his royal blue coloring and didn't begrudge Xander his discontent with his colors. Luckily, the good-natured bickering helped pass the time and meant that they weren't brooding on the fact that they'd just been transformed into monsters. "Here we are," he announced as he started diving towards a park. He tried to land like he would land an airplane, slowing as he reached the runway, and then using his feet like wheels, gently slowing him as he ran. Unfortunately, his feet couldn't keep up with his landing speed and he crashed, going head over heels several times before finally coming to rest. He looked up from his back to find Xander and Buffy back-winging expertly to land gently next to him. Well, more gently than he had in any case. Xander hit rather hard but still stayed on his feet. Buffy's landing was arguably flawless.

"Don't be embarrassed if your landing isn't perfect," Xander parroted back at him with a grin.

"Oh, do be quiet," Giles growled as he climbed to his feet and tucked his wings around him.

"You okay, Giles?" Buffy wondered somewhat worriedly.

Rupert checked himself over as his wings folded up on his back almost automatically. It was surprising that such large wings could take up relatively little space when folded properly. "None the worse for wear, it seems. Though next time, I think I shall attempt your type of landing."

"Hopefully there isn't a next time," Buffy said coldly as she fingered the ax she had carried from school.

"Quite right. Shall we?" he motioned towards the Madison house.

* * *

Willow pulled the books she thought were most likely to hold clues to undoing their transformation and sat them on the table in front of Amy. She knew that Giles was probably just trying to keep them busy so they didn't think about what had just happened. But unfortunately for her, her mind was more than capable of focusing on two things at once, including a thought at the back of her mind that was constantly changing her name to 'Mrs. Xander Harris' over and over again. That particular thought had been running nonstop since the 1st grade – a new world record, though nobody knew it. Even as she searched, she couldn't help but think that this was all her fault. She was supposed to be Amy's friend. Probably Amy's best friend. And she never even noticed that she'd been switched out for her mother? What kind of horrible person didn't notice when someone switched bodies with their friend? She shook her head. She wouldn't brood on this. Giles and the rest would fix it and then everything would be like it was. Until then, she would concentrate on the books like Giles suggested. She picked up a book and started reading, pouring all her concentration into it.

* * *

Amy wished and hoped and dreamed that this wasn't happening. That her mother hadn't just turned them all into stone and possibly monsters. It was all her fault. She should have fought harder. She should never have let her mother steal her body. Not that she'd _let_ her in the first place. If only she hadn't been such a coward and fought back _at all_. Just like in the science lab, she hadn't fought at all. She just stood there like an idiot until Xander had tackled her. And why shouldn't he have? She'd been holding an ax and hadn't done anything with it. She hadn't even _tried_ to stop her mother.

She sighed as Willow set some very thick and old-looking books in front of her. She was grateful for the distraction as she sat down to read.

* * *

A/N: I despise the "Xander-shaped friend" trope. But this time and this time only it's appropriate, because Episode three is the one and only time it's used in canon.

A/N2: Do not own the evil purple dinosaur named Barney. Or Superman.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Xander knew in the bottom of his heart that whether killing Amy's mom worked or not, he would probably never be happy anywhere except in the air. After the initial stomach lurching of his first few minutes, he had rapidly grown to love the feel of air under his wings and the feeling of complete freedom they gave him. He wondered how much it would cost to get his pilot's license. Then he shook off such thoughts for later. Once he was human again. He wanted that, right? To see the sun again but never again to feel the wind beneath his wings. Now that he'd felt the real thing, that Bette Midler song was never going to be the same again. He shook his head again to clear the confusing thoughts.

Xander wasn't particularly thrilled with the plan Giles came up with, but he had to admit it probably had the best chance for success. Better than anything he could think of anyway. What annoyed him was that it left him out of the action. His only job was to ring the doorbell and then run away. Not that that wasn't dangerous this time, because it was. Like a very intense version of ding-dong-ditch, where both sides were trying to kill each other. With the witch distracted, Buffy and Giles would jump (rather easily) to the second story and sneak into Catherine's magical sanctuary and either kill her as she walked in or wait until she slept and kill her then.

Buffy was only mildly disappointed that she couldn't punch Catherine Madison in the face. Then again, she'd fought the witch once already and remembered being flung into the wall without being able to touch her. An ambush was just what the witchdoctor ordered in this case. Suddenly, the tune 'Witch Doctor' got stuck in her head. "Ooo eee, ooo ah ah, ting tang, walla walla, bing bang." she hummed quietly.

Giles smirked at her before making a shushing gesture.

* * *

Catherine Madison sat alone in a darkened living room, staring at a blank TV screen. Today had not been a good day. She had killed her only daughter for starters, an act that filled her with terrible regret. Not the killing her daughter part, the part where she could no longer use that younger body. She should have been more disciplined and exempted her daughter from the spell. Then it would have been possible to switch with her again. After that, this aging body could have been easily disposed of. Now she had no easy access to a younger body where she could seamlessly integrate into the person's life like she had her daughter's. She started to plan whose body she would steal next. It would have to be a girl who already showed some skill in gymnastics. Possessing Amy had at least proven that Amy hadn't been faking being uncoordinated. Even _she_ hadn't been able to get that girl's body to move right. She started musing on which of the middle school girls she knew she whose life she would best be able to fit into. She was going slightly younger this time to give herself a chance to-

DING-DONG

The sound of the doorbell startled her from her reverie. She wondered who it could possibly be. Visitors in Sunnydale after dark were either nefarious or naïve. She rather hoped for nefarious. She needed someone to take her frustrations out on.

She opened the door to find... no one. She didn't stick her head out into the night as her wards didn't extend beyond the door frame, but she did look all around the open door frame, both down and up the street. Nothing. Then an alarm went off in her head. Literally.

After finding her sanctuary violated by the Buffy bitch and her friends, she put a new ward on her attic room. Nothing that would keep people out, that would be too noticeable to practitioners of the craft, but one that would warn her when someone broke in. Apparently, Buffy's little gang had had backup and knew that she was behind their deaths. A feral smile crept over her mouth. Time to spring the trap. Who knew, maybe she'd find a suitable body to inhabit this time?

* * *

The doorknob turned and Buffy readied her ax, the extra reach would be useful even if it wasn't as strong or sharp as her new talons. The door swung inward and Buffy swung her ax, just below head height, hoping to lop the witch's head off with a minimum of fuss. But she didn't connect with Catherine's neck. She didn't connect with Catherine at all. There was nothing there but air and the ax buried itself in a stud behind the drywall of the hallway. Buffy looked down the hall and saw the witch standing there in shock. She'd turned the knob with magic, so she'd been expecting the ambush, but she clearly hadn't been expecting gargoyles. Buffy's heart fell just a bit at that revelation. If she'd meant to turn them into gargoyles, then she shouldn't have been so surprised to see them. Buffy saw the witch start to perform some hand motions. "Get back!" she yelled to Giles as she dove back into the room just in time to avoid a fireball sailing through the doorway. Luckily, it hit the brick wall and didn't immediately start a house fire, though a few smaller fires were started around the room from the splash of the fireball on the bricks, which could easily get out of control if not handled quickly.

"Run!" Buffy ordered her watcher. This ambush was a bust and between the crazy witch and the fires she'd started, Buffy didn't want to hang around right now. She and then Giles bounded from the attic window and snapped their wings open. The momentum from pushing off the house gave them enough lift that they didn't drop very far by the time they flew out and away. Once they were out of sight of the Madison house they turned and double backed to the park where they originally landed; their designated meeting place.

They'd expected Xander to be waiting there, but he was nowhere to be found.

A few minutes later, they saw a very dejected looking gargoyle walking their way. His coloring hid the fact for a minute, but once he was close, it was clear that he was covered in blood.

"You guys are still gargoyles too, huh?"

"Xander, what happened?" Buffy asked, touching the blood-soaked gargoyle tenderly.

"I tore her head off. There was a lot of blood."

Buffy and Giles looked passed him to where a fire was growing very near the house they'd just left.

* * *

Xander had only seen Buffy in action a few times, but he knew that she was good. But he also knew that backup was better. Not that he was discounting Giles, but an attack from the rear was always good for surprising your enemy. Okay, so he learned that from watching the History channel at Willow's house and playing role playing games with Jesse, but it was true no matter where he learned it.

So after he rang the doorbell, he hid just as planned. But when he heard the door close, he ventured a peek and saw Catherine look straight up at the attic as soon as Buffy entered. It took only a half second to realize that she'd heard something and decide what he was going to do. The witch had thankfully left her front door unlocked when she'd went up the stairs. Xander followed her quietly. When he heard Buffy yell 'Get back', he charged. He was too late to stop the witch from sending her fireball, but he hit her just as the fireball exploded on the brickwork of the wall. He knocked her to her stomach where her head hit the floor hard enough to knock her out. He was then standing on her back, trying to figure out how to take off her head, he hadn't brought any tools. Then he looked down at his hands. Those were tools ready-made for killing. Hands that would never know a girl's touch because the witch underneath him had turned him into a monster.

Anger flared through his body as he drove his talons right through her spine. There was a lot more blood than he'd been expecting and a lot of it sprayed right in his face. And then since Giles had said 'beheading' and he was clearly still a gargoyle, he grabbed her head with both hands and pulled. He hadn't cut cleanly through her esophagus with the first blow therefore her esophagus pulled her lungs and her stomach up when he pulled the head off, but he cut those off as well until he was holding just her head and standing on her body. His shoulders slumped when he realized he was _still_ a gargoyle.

He looked ahead (no pun intended) at the fire growing in Catherine's attic then looked down at his handiwork. He dropped the head back by her body and left it and the house for the fire to claim.

* * *

"Umm... that was well done, Xander," Giles praised lightly as they used a neighbor's garden hose to clean Xander off. He wasn't sure if he should praise such violence from anyone but his Slayer. But then again, she was no longer a Slayer and they had needed to kill the witch. More to the point, it was clear that Xander was having more than a few qualms about having killed a person and he didn't want to intrude. So he gave gentle support. Hopefully enough that he didn't feel bad about killing the witch that had effectively killed them, but not so much that he became a serial killer.

Xander lifted his wings so that they too could be sprayed off. He knew that the water hitting him was freezing cold, but he could barely feel it. He wondered if he just felt nothing because he was numb from killing Amy's mom or if it was a feature of gargoyles. He'd ask Giles later.

They flew back in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

* * *

It was all his fault, Giles groused. He'd been a fool to give up magic. There were good reasons for his departure from the craft, but look where it had gotten him. Not even a month into his assignment and not only did his charge die (not unheard of) but also himself and three innocent students. Perhaps this was why council raised Slayers were not allowed to have friends? So that said friends didn't go down with the Slayer when she perished? Perhaps he could have dissuaded them more strongly? Perhaps. Or perhaps they would have clung all the stronger. Who could say?

What he could say for certain was that having Amy-in-Catherine help him with the spell was a huge mistake on his own part. He should have had her tied up and unconscious before he ever started the spell. Preferably locked in a guillotine. Then again, hindsight was always 20/20. And hopefully there was a way to reverse this spell in all those books of his. Catherine's spell book was unfortunately lost to them now. He hadn't thought to grab it as he and Buffy escaped and Xander had left everything to burn.

He promised himself that he'd find a way to undo this spell and give the children a normal life again.

* * *

Xander fingered the silver pendent around his neck. It was all his fault. He'd prayed for the strength to fight the creatures of the night and he'd gotten it. In spades. He could still feel how easily he'd parted Catherine Madison's head from her shoulders. Perhaps it had been a mistake to pray to Saint Dymphna, the patron saint of the mentally disturbed, but that was the pendant his mother had given him. Actually, come to think of it, he wasn't even sure they were Catholic. They only went to the Catholic Church for Easter mass and they went to the Episcopal church for the midnight service on Christmas Eve.

He shook his head to clear the stray thoughts. It was still his fault for praying for strength. He would even have been willing to pay the price of never seeing the sun again if it meant helping Buffy with her Slaying. The trouble was that he'd never meant for his friends to get trapped in this curse with him.

* * *

It was all her fault, Buffy was near to tears even as she flew back to school. Somehow knowing you were the Slayer and someday you were going to die was easier than knowing you were a gargoyle and had trapped every person who had been nice to her in this nightmare as well. And what would her mother say? It had been easier not to think of what her mother would do when she died. She assumed there would be tears, but she wouldn't be alive to see them. But now, 'hey mom, I'm a monster' just didn't sound pleasant.

* * *

"Well?" Willow asked as the other three entered the library. Obviously they were still gargoyles. But was it because they couldn't find her or because the spell was permanent?

"She's dead," Buffy told Amy who burst into tears. Evil, murderous, bitch or not; she was still Amy's mother.

"How?" Amy managed to get out, chin wavering.

"Xander got her," Buffy gave credit. "But not before she started throwing around fireballs. She kinda burned down your house. Sorry... again."

Amy ran to Xander... And hugged him tightly. "Thank you," she whispered.

Xander was completely gobsmacked. Between the shock of having killed someone and the unexpected gratitude from the victim's crying daughter, his brain just couldn't handle it. "Uh, you're welcome." he said automatically as his arms went around her of their own accord.

"So, what do we do now?" Willow asked as she glared daggers at Amy's back for hugging Xander too long.

Giles reached up for his glasses to clean them and realized they were gone. Still, his vision was excellent, especially into the shadowy places. He realized that the lights were actually off in the library and despite that, everyone could see just fine. He wondered for a moment just how good his night vision might be now. Considering gargoyles had no need for daylight vision, it could be excellent, without the normal tradeoff that went with such things. But that could wait. "Well, the first thing we need to do is get some food," Giles decided. "It's going to be a long night. After that, we have to decide where we want to spend the day."

"Huh?" Buffy looked over.

"Ooh! Let me! I've been researching," Willow pleaded then went on at a nod from Giles. "Gargoyles hibernate during the day in stone form. Apparently it's just like sleep. They even dream, supposedly. But they need to do that in the sun. Somehow the sun's rays energize them during the day. It's where our super strength comes from."

"Super strength? Seems pretty normal to me." Buffy quipped, flexing her taloned hand in front of her face.

"Buffy, the rest of us were not able to leap 20 feet into the air this morning," Giles chided. "Please continue, Willow."

"That's pretty much it. We need someplace secure but still in the sunlight. We need the sun but we're vulnerable to attack during the day." Willow said.

"Which was why gargoyles historically guarded castles. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. The humans guarded the gargoyles during the day and the gargoyles guarded by night," Giles explained.

"So, why did they stop guarding castles?" Buffy wondered.

Giles shrugged. "No one knows for sure. There are a few reports of humans turning on gargoyles, but those are few and far between. Certainly the advent of catapults, trebuchets, and cannons that could knock down castle walls and smash gargoyles from afar didn't help."

"We're going to need a human we can trust aren't we?" Buffy asked. Surprising herself with how quickly she was already thinking of humans as 'other'.

"Yes, that would probably be a good idea," Giles nodded. "But like I said, let's all return to my flat for a meal and we can decide from there. Amy, Willow, are you ready to try flying?"

Amy, who had eventually pulled herself from Xander, nodded stiffly as she wiped her eyes.

Willow let out a small 'meep' but it was either fly with the others or walk by herself at that point, she nodded too.

* * *

A/N: Not sure who owns "Witch Doctor" but it's not me. Tell me you aren't humming, "Ooo eee, ooo ah ah, ting tang, walla walla, bing bang" even now.

A/N2: Saint Dymphna really is the patron saint of the mentally disturbed. And in season 1, Xander does wear a small, silver pendant that looks a lot like a Catholic Saint's pendant. However, I've never seen a clear picture of it so I had to come up with the Saint on my own. Though I'm still curious. Can anyone tell me what his pendant is really of?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

"Oh my god. That was amazing!" Willow gushed as they landed in Giles' courtyard. "I can't believe I was afraid to fly!"

"Shush, Willow. People are trying to sleep. And I would rather they didn't look out their windows right now," Giles shushed her as he landed as expertly as the others.

"Sorry," she whispered.

They made their way into Giles' apartment where he laid out bread, meat, condiments, and drinks. "Make yourselves some sandwiches. I'll be down in a minute."

* * *

"We've got it Giles," Buffy said when he returned from upstairs. "We find a park and then just let ourselves turn to stone there. People will think we're just statues and leave us alone. Vamps can't hit us in the sunshine and when we wake up, people will already have abandoned the park. 'Cause, you know, vampires."

Giles nodded without really agreeing. "That isn't a bad idea, Buffy. But what's to keep the park commission from removing the unauthorized statues during the day? And who knows what might happen then? Whether we get smashed on purpose for being unauthorized 'art' or whether they accidentally drop one of us...?" he let the implications for that settle on everyone. "Perhaps in a bit, we can come back and decorate this fair city. Though first I'll want to order some carved gargoyle imitations and have them left around town and see what happens to _them_ first."

The children nodded at the wisdom of that idea.

Giles went on. "Soon enough, we'll approach someone we think we can trust with our secret. However, it's too late to wake someone for that."

"What about our parents?" Willow asked.

Giles sighed. He'd forgotten that each of the students had guardians who cared for them and would miss them if they didn't return tonight. He didn't want them thinking about parents, or anything in their old lives right now. Such thoughts might lead to brooding. Brooding would lead to depression and he would do his utmost to keep them from that. "Thank you for reminding me. Is there a way you can call and tell them not to worry about you for a day or two?"

"I can call my folks and tell them I'll be staying at Willow's for a few days," Xander shrugged. "My voice hasn't changed that much, has it?"

"And I'll call my folks and tell them I'm staying at Buffy's!" Willow said a bit too excitedly.

Buffy smiled at the enthusiasm of her new friend. "And I'll call my mom and... Well, I hope she'll let me stay over at Willow's. Not like there's much I can do if she won't let me." The Summers women had only recently moved to Sunnydale, after all. Buffy was counting on her mother being too happy about Buffy making new friends to do the research she might normally do.

"Tell her you're staying at my place instead then," Amy said. "If she says no, then at least Willow won't go down with you when she figures what's up. Better than your parents calling each other and figuring out about both of you."

"Thanks, Amy," Buffy put a gentle hand on her other new friend's shoulder.

"Very well. Make your calls quickly, please. It's been a rather exciting night already and I would rather spend the rest of the night looking for a spot to rest for the day. Here," he pulled out a map and pointed. His other hand tapped out a nervous rhythm on his leg. He wanted to get going and avoid giving the children too long to think. Keep them busy until they accepted their new lot in life. Keep their hopes up with promises until it became too obvious to deny. Not that he would stop looking for a cure, but with Catherine dead and her books burned, there would be no quick fixes from this.

"Los Padres National Forest," Buffy read. "That scrub-land just north of Sunnydale?"

"It's 'scrub-land' around here because the trees were logged off over a hundred years ago. But Los Padres is an immense place with a wide variety of habitats from scrub-land and desert to old growth sequoias, nearly 2 million square acres all told. And while it gets several million visitors yearly, most of those never go more than a hundred yards from the nearest road or campsite."

"In other words, if someone had say, a set of wings," Xander put in, "they could find a place far from any trails and settle down for the night. Or for the day."

Giles nodded, "Precisely. There are several areas we might try. Including some old growth Jeffrey Pine stands. Though, I'm not sure how much they might shade us without providing adequate cover from prying eyes on the ground. What I'm really aiming for is something called Chaparral. It's a type of dense scrub-land vegetation which should shield us from prying eyes on the ground while still allowing for good sun penetration from above. Still, we won't know until we get there. I suggest we be off?"

* * *

After making their calls so their parents wouldn't worry for at least one more day, they exited the apartment and followed Giles as he jumped first to one level and then the second. Xander and Buffy had a contest to see who could jump from the ground to the rooftop without hitting the first story first. Both made it, which only started an argument about who had jumped higher.

"Ahem. If you two are finished?" Giles raised an eyebrow. He waited until they were sufficiently chastised then he jumped high above his apartment block and snapped his wings open. The children followed suit just behind him, heading north. As they neared the hill that marked the beginning of the forest, Giles started flapping to gain altitude. However, it soon became clear that even flapping hard, they were none of them going to make it over the first hill overlooking the town.

Giles found himself letting out a low growl of frustration. Then he dove, he didn't even look back to make sure the others were following, trusting that they would follow on their own and would instinctively learn how to control their new wings and tails. He pulled up to fly just above the vegetation which only sparsely covered the earth below. He was gliding up the hill just over the tops of the brush. Up and up he went, though soon enough he was running out of momentum. Without even thinking about it, he folded his wings behind him and landed. Then he started running, not on two legs, but in bounding leaps on four legs. It was amazing to him how fast the brush moved past him, especially considering that he was running sharply uphill. He reached the top, settled for half a moment into a great crouch and bounded up just as far as he could again before snapping open his wings again to fly. Behind him, the snap of several other pairs of wings told him that the others were following. He gave a quick glance back to make sure that everyone made it.

He became slightly alarmed when he didn't see Buffy behind him but just as he was getting ready to turn around a shadow passed over the moon. He looked up to see Buffy. She must not have followed him and instead had flapped hard enough to pull her smaller frame over the hill using only her wings. A stab of pride hit him, she was going to be a phenomenal flier, he was sure of it.

* * *

Buffy floated through the air with the greatest of ease. When everyone else had had to get out and push, she just kept on flying. Small hairs on her wings fed her a wealth of information about the air nearest her and her night vision allowed her to see bugs and bats that would normally be invisible to her. Their movements told her about the air currents all around her. She could almost see said air currents themselves. She floated up to avoid a gust that was about to blow in her face in the 50-75 feet of altitude range. Above 80 feet there was a slight tailwind she caught, which gave her a slight push.

Below her she saw her the group forming up instinctively in a staggered line behind Xander, who had the next biggest wings after her. But she could see he didn't have her vision. He was flying at about 55 feet of altitude. All he had to do was drop 10 feet and he could lessen the wind he was fighting against dramatically.

Instead he pressed on.

Buffy sighed. She didn't feel like shouting down instructions. And she felt that learning to ride the air currents was like learning to ride a bike. No one could tell you how to do it, you just had to do it and learn as you went.

* * *

The Jeffery Pines were certainly not what the gargoyles wanted. Too open underneath. They weren't even all that good as takeoff points as the mess of branches starting midway up the trunk was an impediment to launching yourself for flight.

Other stands of different trees were even thicker. Offering no more protection from prying eyes on the ground and even more limbs to obstruct take off. They left to look at Giles' Promised Land, the chaparral.

The problem with the chaparral was finding somewhere to land. 'Thick' didn't begin to describe the woody scrub. After several minutes of circling, Giles called out, "Wait for me to clear a place to land," then folded his wings tightly and fell. Not terribly far or fast as the chaparral was only 7-9 feet tall where they were. He crashed through the woody branches and hit the ground. Contemplating his new talons for the first time, he swiped them at the nearby vegetation. They ripped through it like a hot knife through butter. Soon enough he had a small area cleared and was pushing the scraps to the side when Xander, Amy, and Willow landed nearby.

They all looked up to see Buffy way too high to contemplate landing. But she folded her wings anyway and started falling feet first. Then her wings flared, but not in a flat plane like normal, they seemed to twist around her like a barber's pole. She began spinning as she fell. As she fell, she started spinning faster and faster and started falling slower and slower. All the gargoyles in the small clearing had to push themselves up against the sides of the clearing in order to not get smacked in the head by Buffy's wings as she lightly touched down and eventually stopped spinning.

Giles rubbed his temples. The girl was too dramatic and showy by a factor of ten to ever be an effective Slayer. But don't ever say she didn't have style.

"Wow, that was fun!" Buffy smiled when she finally stopped spinning.

"How are you not sick?" Willow wondered.

"Figure skating. They teach you how not to be sick while spinning really fast," Buffy explained.

Giles walked over to the indentation Buffy's spinning had made in the earth and brought a bunch of kindling he'd broken off from the nearby plants. "Very graceful, Buffy. Now, I wouldn't normally be lighting a fire here as the chaparral is much too quick to burn, but I think we could all do with the psychological comfort it can bring." And putting action to words, he put a piece of the vegetation he'd just cleared to the indentation made by Buffy's spinning landing. The heat from the friction of slowing her down made the small stick smolder, smoke, and finally burst into flame. He used that flame to light a small pile of sticks without any tinder at all showing just how quick to light it was. Then he piled on larger and larger sticks until they had an established fire going and a nice bed of coals.

* * *

The gargoyles all sat around the fire. "Gargoyles lived in large family groups called clans for several thousands of years," Giles began.

"Family groups?" Buffy said with a sniff. "What about inbreeding?"

"I'm not sure. The books I have didn't cover that or at least I don't remember if they did. More research will be necessary. May I continue?" Giles answered. "Now, the first thing I would like you to consider is that we should form a clan here and not try to meet or integrate with the other clan in New York just yet."

"Why shouldn't we try to meet them?" Willow asked.

"_Yet,_" Giles reiterated. "And I don't want to meet them _yet_ because despite our new physiology, we are all still human at our cores. We have human thoughts and follow human norms and customs. Gargoyles have gargoyle thoughts and follow gargoyle customs. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"Not really," Buffy said with furrowed brow. "I think you're going to have to spell it out."

Giles sighed. He really didn't want to spell this out. "It goes back to your earlier point about inbreeding. We don't _know_ how the gargoyles avoided that. Perhaps they didn't and that's why there's only a few clans left. But back when humans lived in tribes and clans of that size, one way they avoided inbreeding was by capturing women from neighboring tribes."

All three women made similar faces of shock, horror, and outrage.

"You think that they'd-"

"Eww!"

"..."

"No. I don't _know_ that they'd do that," Giles interrupted. "In fact I'm _fairly_ certain they would not. But I would rather not take the chance with something like that. I would like the opportunity to do more research and also train all of you in combat before we meet them."

"Training?" Xander perked up at that thought.

"Combat training?" Willow looked slightly apprehensive. "Why?"

"For several reasons. The other gargoyle clan in America appears to have at least five members as well. At least five that venture out from their roost, which might or might not be the whole clan. And secondly, the Hellmouth is now unguarded. All of your loved ones who still live here are now much more vulnerable to attack than they were just the other night." And those were just the reasons he was speaking out loud. A huge, underlying reason was simply for something to do. An action to take. He couldn't let the children stop and think about what happened or they might slip into melancholy that might take weeks to snap out of, if they ever did. Which was why he kept pushing them, pressing them to act. After a few nights- days of sleep, the risk would diminish as they saw that they could still lead lives as gargoyles – different lives – but lives none the less.

"Unless we do something," Buffy added resolutely.

Giles gave a small smile. His Slayer had accepted that she still had a sacred duty, Slayer or not. And where one leads...

"I'm in," Xander said quickly following Buffy's example.

"Me too!" Willow said right after him, ever following Xander. She had her reservations, but if Xander was in, so was she.

"Does this mean we're giving up on changing back?" Amy asked.

"Not at all. The first and most obvious way to change has eluded us but that doesn't mean that we might someday soon figure a way back. In the meantime, however...?"

Amy nodded solemnly. "I'm in."

"Very good. We are a clan then. Next we need a leader," Giles said, trying not to be too obvious in the direction he was leading them.

"Ooh! I nominate Mr. Giles!" Willow said.

"Do we vote for the leader?" Buffy wondered.

"Thank you Willow. Anyone else?" Giles said.

"I don't know, I suppose we could. We're kinda making it up as we go," Amy said.

"Xander, say 'seconded'," Willow ordered.

"Seconded?" Xander queried.

"Very well, seconded," Giles said. "All those in favor?" he raised his hand. Eventually, everyone else raised theirs too, some with more understanding of what was going on than others. Giles looked up at the stars in the night sky. "Right. We have several hours before sunrise. Any volunteers for training?"

Surprisingly, Amy was the first to stand up, with Buffy and Xander following just behind her and Willow grudgingly standing as well.

"Wonderful," Giles smiled a rather fearsome grin. Then he started twisting and turning his body in various ways. The kids looked at him, then spread out and also started to stretch. "What? Oh, no. I don't think you need to stretch. The stone sleep will heal any injuries you might have while training. I was just trying to figure out how this new body works and how to adapt the fighting styles I know to them. Buffy, if you could assist me?" Buffy stepped forward. "I'm going to attack you. I want you to perform a hip throw on me, okay?"

She nodded and he threw a punch. She blocked it expertly and used his own momentum to throw him over her hip. But then she overbalanced and crashed down on top of him.

"What the heck?" she cried as she got to her feet.

Giles also got to his feet. "That was what I feared. Our bodies are somewhat dissimilar to our human forms, not even counting our wings and tails. That's three new limbs we all have to learn to deal with. Our feet are also quite different to their previous forms, you'll note that we're all naturally standing on the balls of our feet with the heels forming something like a reverse knee. We'll all have to learn how to use our feet all over again as well."

"So much for all my shoes," Buffy pouted.

Giles smiled at the joke more because it was a show of good spirits than because it was funny. "My apologies, Buffy but it looks like we're all starting back at square one. Still, I think a familiarity with the forms should give us both a slight boost." He then set about designing a brand new martial art and teaching it to the children all at the same time. The moves were less important than the fact that they were doing something, anything, that didn't involve thinking about their current situation. And beyond that, the exercise was good for teaching all of them about the ways their new bodies worked. Giles swished the new muscles in his tail to help him maintain his balance as Amy tried a move on him.

* * *

It was nearing morning, they could all feel it, a stiffness slowly creeping up on them. The fire had long since been put out by Xander falling on it during training, though none of them had really noticed. Their eyes adjusted rapidly to the darkness such that they could quickly see much better without the fire than they had been able to with it.

"Well, I suppose we should get ready for our stone-sleep," Giles said. He unfurled his wings slightly and took up a ferocious pose.

"You do what you gotta do, man," Xander said as he curled up near the northern edge of the clearing, putting him in place to absorb as much sunlight as possible from the southern winter sun.

"What are you doing, Giles?" Buffy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It- well it- it's traditional for a gargoyle to assume a ferocious posture to scare off potential- I look silly don't I?" Giles relaxed into a normal stance again.

"Only to us," Buffy said. "Come on. I think Xander's got the right idea. If we're going to be rocks, we should imitate rocks."

Xander hadn't actually been trying to imitate a rock, he'd just been trying to get comfortable before going to bed. And when in Rome... So if he was an animal, he had decided to try laying down like an animal does. Luckily it turned out to be pretty comfortable. He looked to his right as Amy laid down and snuggled up next to him then to his left as Willow did the same thing on the other side. Buffy snuggled next to Willow and Giles next to her, not quite touching the others as he was unsure of the propriety of such an action. And thus did the five gargoyles greet their first sunrise. Disguised to all the world as five rocks in a clearing.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

The next evening, the small clearing was showered in shell-like pieces of stone as five gargoyles woke up.

"Man, that's the most refreshing sleep I've ever had," Xander said as he stretched and wiped a few flakes of stone from his skin.

"Right. Just like we talked about yesterday. Buffy and I are going back to town to see if we can talk to Joyce. Have either of you reconsidered talking to your parents?" Giles asked.

"Very much no," Xander said firmly.

"Nah. My mom would just say it was a phase I was going through," said Willow.

"Very well. Anything else we should gather while we're in town?" Giles queried. He was both saddened and relieved that the two children were making such a clean break from their old lives. It would make acceptance of their current (and possibly future) lives easier but it spoke to problems in their old lives that they were dissatisfied with. Particularly their parents.

"Clothes?" Amy put forth. Just one night of their clothes putting up with the stress that gargoyles put on them and the light training they had finished the night with, had left their clothes looking decidedly tattered though surprisingly clean. Stone sleep apparently doubled as a laundry service for clothes you were wearing; though it did not, apparently, double as a tailor as all the rips and tears were still there. All of them had tears in their shirts where their wings had torn through. Those that were wearing pants or long sleeves also had tears in their elbows and knees from spikes in those areas that had poked through.

"Food?" Xander suggested. Feeling refreshed and not feeling hungry were two different things.

"Clothes yes. Food, no." Giles suppressed a chuckle when Xander's face fell at that revelation. "You are now, all of you, apex predators and this is a National Forest filled with wild game. I expect you can work out what to do." That and worrying about whether or not they would eat that night was preferable to worrying whether or not they would ever be human or not. At least for now. Worrying about immediate needs was actually better than worrying about the long term future.

"You want us to hunt?" Willow gasped. "You want us to kill Bambi?"

Giles caught Buffy smirking just a bit. "Don't look so smug, Miss Summers. Whether or not you or I eat tonight also depends on them successfully hunting while we're gone. We are a clan now and either we all eat or we all go hungry." Giles failed to hide his smirk as Buffy's face also fell. One day of going hungry wouldn't hurt any of them and would give them proper motivation to hunt. If they were unsuccessful tonight, he would join them tomorrow night. And if that didn't work, then they would raid someone's fridge, though preferably not Joyce's. Although, again, thinking about food was preferable to thinking about other things. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah," Buffy said with her arms crossed, clearly not happy at the direction the conversation had gone in. "How the hell are we getting out of this place?"

Giles looked around. It was true, this was going to be a bit trickier than average. He had purposely cleared as small a space as possible to reduce their effect on the land as well to as make their camp harder to spot. The chaparral was very dense and rather tall in this area. That was, after all, the reason he'd chosen it. It would be very hard for anyone to get to or see from anywhere humans could easily access. The bushes around them varied from about eye height (on him) to a bit taller than that all around them. They were also on a slight slope. He went to the highest point in their clearing and turned around to look downhill. He carefully unfolded his wings and extended them up and back behind him, then gave a short hop. It was less than a full leap and he was across the clearing. He crouched and gave a full leap then – both upwards and forward. This time at the apex, instead of snapping his wings open and letting them fill with air on their own, he powered his wings downward as hard as he could and the ground fell away below him. A few more flaps with all his might and he had enough height that he could circle lazily with the heat of the day providing an updraft for him to gain height on while he watched Buffy imitate him. Once she was successfully in the air, he led the way back to town.

* * *

"I say everyone goes hungry until Giles wises up," Willow suggested once Buffy and Giles turned to the south.

"Not a chance," Amy scoffed. "I'm not going hungry just because Disney warped your mind. Lucky for me, Mom thought Disney was evil and wouldn't let me watch it. Ironic, I suppose." She got a little melancholy at that.

"Fine, you go hunt, Xander and I will wait here," Willow said.

"Heck no. I'm hungry, Will," Xander chuckled.

"Have you ever hunted before?" Amy asked him.

"Nope. You?"

"Yeah. A couple times when I was 12, right before the divorce. Dad took me out and I got my first deer," Amy said proudly.

Xander bowed low, "Then I defer to your wisdom, oh great huntress."

"Cool, let's go." Amy said and started unfolding her wings to take off like Giles and Buffy had. She noticed that Willow was also doing the same. "I thought you were staying here?"

Willow flushed. "I- I don't want to stay by myself," she admitted.

"Fine," Amy sighed. "But no spooking the animals. I'm not in a very good mood right now and if you cost me a meal, I'm eating your wings dipped in buffalo sauce. Got it?" she finished with deadly seriousness.

"Got it," Willow swallowed.

* * *

"Giles. I've changed my mind. I want to go back and kill Bambi," Buffy whined as they stood in front of her house.

Giles stopped walking and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Do you really wish to leave your mother wondering what happened to you Buffy?" He wasn't entirely sure why the other children wouldn't want to inform their parents, but he had a hunch. Buffy, at least, had a kind and caring mother. That had been in the watcher reports he'd read. The fact that she had (originally) volunteered to tell the woman was also a good sign.

"This is so unfair!" Buffy pouted.

"Nor is it fair to leave her in the dark," Giles countered. If he hadn't seen the populace's reaction to the Harvest, he would have been quite adamant that Willow and Xander both tell their parents as well. "At least this way, even if she doesn't believe you, at least _I_ won't be blamed for your disappearance. She'll blame it on some monsters."

"Blame you?"

"Buffy. One teacher and four students suddenly go missing. It certainly isn't going to be blamed on the students. If I'm lucky, the papers will count me as another victim and not as the perpetrator of some heinous acts against all of you." It also occurred to him later the first night that all of their last calls could be traced to his flat. Not an auspicious way show his innocence.

"Why would they say that?" Buffy wondered.

"Oh, they probably won't. But one does wonder these things. And the American papers are notorious for their muck-raking. Luckily, I'm not famous enough for such efforts. I suppose it was a silly worry." Giles gave a small smile to show that he wasn't as worried as Buffy thought. He was.

Buffy took his arm. "Come on. Let's go convince my mom that you're not a scary kidnapper and just an inhuman monster."

"Buffy..." Giles could only sigh at his charge's antics.

* * *

_It was all too easy,_ Amy decided. They found a meadow with a herd of deer browsing the foliage in the fading twilight. They were on alert, watching all around themselves and swiveling their ears around searching for threats in the growing darkness. Except that the threat wasn't coming from the woods or the fields around them. It was coming from above and was almost perfectly silent. She did a wing over and dove. She could feel Xander behind her but was pretty sure that Willow was continuing to circle.

The buck never knew what happened. She landed astride his back, grabbed his antlers, and twisted until she heard a crack. She lifted her head as Xander landed lightly beside her. All the other deer had disappeared into the woods.

"Interesting hunting method," Xander chuckled.

She shrugged as she stepped away from her prey. "It worked, didn't it?" She considered the fresh deer carcass. "We should probably field dress it. I don't suppose you brought a knife?"

Xander held up his taloned hand spread like the tools on a pocket knife. "A couple."

Amy looked at her own hand. "Oh. Yeah." She looked up as Willow also landed. "You two should watch me as I field dress this guy. So you can do it next time."

"Next time?" Willow squeaked.

"You're a gargoyle, Willow," Amy said, not unkindly. "Sooner or later, you're going to have to hunt for your food. Or if what Mr. Giles says is right, you may have to fight demons instead. Better to get over any fear of blood you have right now."

Willow looked like she might turn green at the mere thought of blood... if she hadn't already been green to begin with.

"Okay. First, make an incision from the breastbone to the pelvis. The important part here is not to nick the intestines. Cause doing that is really smelly and makes the meat taste funny." Amy demonstrated that carefully with her claws. "Next you reach up into the body cavity and cut the esophagus so the rest of the guts can come free."

Xander mumbled something that neither of the other girls could hear.

"Next you take out the heart and liver as they're the tastiest organs and the ones we want to keep," she met action to words and handed the bloody organs to Xander.

"Then you- break the pelvis," Amy grunted slightly with the effort, but did so barehanded, "and cut around the penis, testicles, and anus. Finally, you tip the body over and all the guts fall out. All you have to do is cut a few connecting tissues at the back. And presto, your deer is field dressed. Though we should really hang it up and let the blood drip out for a bit." She contemplated for a minute. "Willow, do you want to hold the heart and liver or help me drain this guy?"

Willow looked from Xander holding the bloody organs to Amy who also had bloody hands and arms but the outside of the deer was otherwise free of blood and she decided she could probably avoid getting blood on herself and her clothes easier by helping Amy. She was guaranteed to get blood on her hands holding the organs but if she could just grab the animal's fur then maybe she could stay clean. Together, they hoisted the deer into a nearby tree. The deer was surprisingly light to Willow and she was pretty sure she could have hoisted it herself, but the trick was hoisting it without getting covered in blood. Once the deer was secured, they gently returned to the ground. Where they found Xander with the heart and most of the liver. He was still chewing, but swallowed as they approached.

"Xander, did you just eat raw liver?" Willow made a face.

"I was hungry," Xander defended. "And you guys were taking forever."

"It was two minutes! Whatever. At least you didn't eat the heart," Amy said as she took that organ with her own bloody hand. "My dad told me that there are any number of ancient peoples that believed that consuming the heart of your prey gave you their strength but only if you were the one to make the kill. And then back at camp, he cooked the heart of the deer I'd killed that day for me. He had some steak, but the heart, he said, was for me since I killed it. Best meal I ever had. Rule one of hunting in a group is that whoever makes the kill gets the heart." She looked at the heart for a bit, lost in memories. Then she bit.

"Amy!" Willow cried.

"What?" Amy said as she chewed.

"It's, uh... raw?"

Amy swallowed and looked at the bloody organ she was holding as if for the first time. "So it is." She took another bite. Just a few more bites and it was gone. "Still delicious. Better than I remember even, and that was pretty damn good."

Willow couldn't keep her mouth from hanging open.

"Did you want some liver?" Xander offered the redhead.

"Yeah, but cooked," Willow surprised herself. When she'd woken up yesterday morning, eating liver – even cooked – was _way_ down on her list of things to do.

"Fine, but you're going to have to carry it back to camp cause I'm not sure it would make it all the way in Xander's hands," Amy said, laughing lightly.

Xander didn't even bother to challenge the point.

Once the deer was drained to Amy's liking, she and Xander took it down. Then with each of them helping to carry the deer, they launched themselves into the night.

* * *

"Do you have a plan?" Giles asked as they stood in front of Buffy's house.

"Sort of. I want to start talking to her through a door or something. Anything so that she can't see me but she'll know that it's still me. Should help convince her when I actually reveal myself," Buffy said.

"Capital idea. Would you like me to come with you?" he offered.

"Why don't you wait by the back door? Come in if you hear screaming or catch her if she tries to run. I don't want her running through Sunnydale alone at night," Buffy said before she stepped onto the front porch. She paused at the front door as much from the clenching fear in her stomach as to give Giles time to get around the house. Opening the door, she stepped through.

"Buffy?" came the call from the kitchen. "Where have you been?" Joyce asked worriedly.

Buffy raced for the kitchen door and got to it before her mother could. She held it closed as her mother tried to open it. "I'm sorry, Mom."

"Buffy! Open this door this instant. You skipped an entire day of school today. Along with your friend Amy, I found out. And her house burned down with someone inside it. Do you know what that looks like, young lady? The police were here. I didn't know what to tell them." Joyce's voice broke. "Buffy. Just tell me what's wrong!" she cried. She let her forehead rest against the unmoving door as her tears pooled in the doorway.

"I'm so sorry, Mommy," Buffy cried against her side of the door. Suddenly feeling very small indeed no matter how much she'd grown. She could feel her mother lean against the other side. "I don't suppose it would help if I told you that I was there but I didn't start the fire. Amy's mom did. The problem is she was a witch."

"The woman is dead, Buffy. I'm not sure that name calling is appropriate," Joyce admonished, wiping her eyes and nose. She turned around, leaned against the door, and let herself settle to the floor.

Buffy could hear the tears in her mother's voice and the _SWICK_ of a lighter going. "I'm not saying it as name calling. I'm saying she really was a witch. She's why we were absent and why I'm holding the door right now. Because I'm not human anymore," Buffy said. By the time she was done talking, the smell of tobacco wafted through the door and it was clear that her non-smoking mother was totally smoking.

"Buffy, just because you killed someone by accident doesn't make you less of a person, less of a human. You're still human and you're still my daughter. I promise, we'll handle this together," Joyce assured her. Then the door was suddenly yanked away from her and she ended up laying on her back looking up at the ceiling... looking at a monster.

"Hi, mommy."

It waved.

* * *

A/N: Do not own Bambi or Disney


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

Joyce found herself on her back looking up at the ceiling... at a monster towering over her.

"Hi, mommy," the Buffy-monster waved wickedly clawed talons. "You said we'd handle this together..."

Joyce spun herself so she was facing it and pushed away so she was in a sitting position to look at the monster who was wearing her daughter's clothes and had her voice. She wanted to scream. She should have been screaming but for the shock of the bizarre situation.

"I wasn't kidding or being metaphoric-ish about Amy's mom being a witch and turning us into monsters," the Buffy-monster said sadly.

"Us?" Joyce latched onto the idea. Anything besides thinking about how her daughter might be this thing in front of her.

"Me, Amy, Willow, Xander, and Mr. Giles," Buffy said. "The long story is complicated and you wouldn't believe it anyway. But the short version is that Catherine Madison was a witch. A witch we underestimated. One minute we're fighting her and the next minute – BAM! Monsters."

"And that's when you burned down her house?" Joyce wondered, trying to organize her thoughts and get to her feet at the same time. The monster didn't do anything as she stood up. Just as soon as it turned its back, she would be running.

"No. We went there to try and undo the spell." Buffy left out that beheading was how they were hoping to undo it. "But _she_ ended up lighting her house on fire and then she ended up dead. Then we took off. 'Cause there's no way we were getting a fair trial – or any trial for that matter – looking like this."

Joyce just stared at the thing in front of her. It sounded like her daughter, it talked like her daughter, and it was even wearing the same clothes her daughter had been wearing the other day... That was it! It wasn't her daughter. She felt so relieved. Her daughter wouldn't be caught dead wearing the same outfit two days in a row. She couldn't remember the last time Buffy had worn fewer than two outfits in a single day. Relief flooded over her, then panic as to where her real daughter was. But she was also filled with determination now. She'd find out. She grabbed a frying pan out of the nearby drying rack. "Where's my daughter?" she yelled as she beat the monster about the head.

"Oww! Mom! What the hell? I told you, _I'm_ Buffy!"

"Where's my daughter? Where's my daughter? Where's my daughter!?" Joyce repeated as she banged away faster and faster. Suddenly, the pan was ripped from her hand. She turned around to see who had taken her weapon.

"This _is_ your daughter," a cultured British voice told her, except that it too was coming from a monster. A very blue monster.

Joyce turned back around to look at the other monster who was now sobbing in a chair. "That can't be my daughter. I haven't seen Buffy wear fewer than two outfits in a day since she was 13. And usually three or four." As she heard herself say her own idea out loud, the silliness of clothing as proof hit her. That really was a weak reason.

"Mom! Jesus! I just got turned into a monster and you think my first priority is clothes?" Buffy screeched. It hadn't been her first priority. More like third or fourth, not that she'd admit that right now.

Giles wisely decided to stay silent about how upset she had been about never wearing shoes again.

"Buffy?" Joyce asked tentatively.

Buffy just nodded and tried to swallow past the lump in her throat.

Suddenly both women were crying and embracing and talking over each other such that Giles couldn't follow a thing being said. He turned back to the kitchen, both to give them some privacy and to put away the pan Mrs. Summers had been trying to beat her child to death with. Not that she was likely to have been successful. The pain Buffy had felt at such a thrashing was likely to be more psychological than physical. Especially in her new form. On his way back to the living room, he picked up the remnants of a smoldering cigarette, though not before it left a scorch mark on the linoleum. He breathed deeply of the relaxing vapors and held his breath as he turned around and walked to the back porch. He didn't want to smoke in the woman's kitchen, never mind the fact that she'd lit the fag.

* * *

The three of them were flying back to camp. Xander and Amy still had the deer between them, which was interesting/complicated the way they did that without tangling their wings. Willow was licking her talons clean after finishing the raw liver she'd been holding. She couldn't believe how good that had tasted. She thought back to the last meal she'd had. The sandwich at Giles' place had included cooked and processed meat and bread. It had been okay, but she doubted any of them had stopped to actually taste their meal, they had all been in too great a state of shock.

She ran her tongue over her new teeth. The very large canines at the front and the molars that were comparatively sharper than she'd had as a human, made it clear to her that they were all now carnivores. Whether they were obligate carnivores like cats who couldn't really process any plant matter or whether they were facultative carnivores like dogs who could only consume _some_ plant matter remained to be seen. Though the eating of bread the other day and not getting sick was a good sign. She was pulled from her musings by motion up ahead of them on the ground.

She dropped down and back to where Xander and Amy were flying together. Flying together while carrying a heavy, non-aerodynamic load seemed to be slowing them down. "Xander, it's a bear!" she pointed excitedly.

"Yeah, it's trying to get into a bear-proof barrel," Amy was the one who answered. Of the three of them, she was probably the only one who had ever been camping. "Don't worry, he'll get bored and wander off on his own soon enough."

"Poor guy is probably hungry," Willow went on as if she hadn't heard. "We should help him."

"You're _not_ giving him any of our food," Amy said quickly and sternly.

"Will, don't you remember those signs at the zoo field trip each year? Don't feed the bears? Those still apply here," Xander said more gently.

"Oh, poo," Willow waved him off. "That's just 'cause they feed them plenty at the zoo and they don't want them getting obese. Out here they need all the help they can get." And with that, she went into a gentle dive to meet Mr. Bear.

* * *

Giles was just finishing the last drag on his cigarette when the girls entered the kitchen. He shot a questioning glance at Buffy as he ground out the smoke. They had barely had enough time to stop crying by his own count. Indeed, Mrs. Summers' eyes looked the worse for wear.

"Tails." Buffy explained. "Good for flying. Not so much for sitting on couches or chairs."

Giles reached around for his own tail without even thinking about it. _No,_ he supposed as he felt the place where his tail met his backside. _That would be about where one's arse would meet the back of a chair._ Aloud he went on, "No, I suppose not all chairs will be usable right now. But stools..." he spied a few stools around the center island. Backless chairs would likely be preferable for now.

"If you could take them into the living room?" Joyce asked. "I'm going to go upstairs and wash up for a minute. I'll be right back down."

* * *

Willow landed lightly just a few yards away from the bear and barrel. The bear immediately stopped trying to get to the food inside.

"That's it... nice bear. Just step away for a second and I'll get you all the food you need," she said softly as she approached.

The bear took a few steps away from the barrel and made a soft chuffing sound and clacked its teeth together a few times. Willow figured this meant the bear was hungry but understood what she was trying to do and was okay with her helping. She figured an angry bear would roar at her the way Xander had when she accidentally stepped on his tail earlier. But apparently the bear changed its mind because as soon as she took a step towards the barrel, it charged. And suddenly, there was the roaring that was missing.

* * *

"Are you sure we should be doing this, Giles? I mean isn't it, like, kinda stealing?" Buffy wondered.

"It is not 'kinda' stealing, Buffy. As a matter of fact, it _is_ stealing. However, seeing as we are no longer human, we cannot simply walk in and attempt to buy these things. What we will not do though, is take more than we need or needlessly vandalize the store. We are not criminals. We are merely outlaws."

Buffy smiled. She was in a much better mood now that her mother knew about and accepted her transformation. A couple hours of crying had been very therapeutic for both of them. Giles had even done the 'one girl in all the world' speech and explained how the stuff at Hemery had been vampires and not smoking mice. "Outlaws in need of designer, leather apparel," she smiled as she delicately touched a beautiful coat.

Giles frowned at that. "Take only what you need, Buffy," he said as he started to gather up some clothing for himself. He doubted that the cost to the manufacturer of the 'designer' apparel was significantly more than the regular clothes. He just wanted to make sure that the quantity of clothing she took was reasonable. In his limited experience, mostly from the telly to be honest, teenaged girls tended to buy ridiculous amounts of clothing.

Buffy did what she did best and started her own 'shopping'. She was the expert and was in charge of getting clothing for all the kids as she could most accurately guess their sizes even on brief acquaintance in their new forms. "Giles, what's the difference between outlaws and criminals?" she asked as she threw a pair of pants in her bag for Willow. "Other than the lack of mass destruction."

"The difference between a criminal and an outlaw is that while criminals frequently are victims, outlaws never are," Giles quoted.

Buffy stopped shopping to look at the librarian. "Huh?"

"Uh, it means that uh, criminals break laws out of greed, frustration, or vengeance. Outlaws are those outside the law. We do not have the protection of the law, but neither then are we bound by its shackles. We take only what we need and in return we give all we can to make society a better place," he explained.

Buffy thought about that for a minute before moving on and finishing her shopping. After tonight, their group was going to look super styling. And the leather they would be wearing would stand up much better to gargoyle activities than the cotton clothing they'd been wearing.

* * *

"Can you carry the deer yourself?" Xander asked and received a nod in reply before dropping the deer and then folding his wings and diving after Willow. He didn't know what Willow was doing, but even from up here, he could see that the bear didn't look happy. As he dove Willow stepped forward and the bear charged. Xander needed to swerve around Willow so he didn't hit her, but that would mean he'd get to her after the bear did and that was unacceptable. He let out the most ferocious roar he could to distract the bear and keep it from mauling Willow. Suddenly, a world that had seemed muted (even if it wasn't very dark and he could see almost everything) looked like it was bathed in bright light; and it even seemed as if time itself had slowed down. The bear certainly noticed the roar and paused to refocus on him. Xander barreled into the bear with all his strength and sent it tumbling... right into the nearby tent. Okay. That was a little oopsie. He hadn't actually been paying attention to where he had been aiming the bear. He promised himself that next time he hit a loaded bear, he would watch where he aimed it. And to always treat every bear as if it were loaded.

Human screams and yells mixed with the bear's roars as two people in the tent and a bear tangled with them all tried to escape. Two people managed to crawl away from the mess as the bear righted itself and charged again.

Xander jumped forward to meet the charge but was held up by Willow grabbing his arm. "No, Xander! He's just scared and hungry."

The unexpected force turned him and caused him to stumble so that his back was to the bear when it attacked. A large paw swiped him from the right. He could actually feel his right arm break as the bear connected solidly. He went flying and landed in a heap many yards away. He didn't even have time to collect his thoughts before he felt himself being picked up and lifted into the air.

Xander looked back at Willow angrily as she carried him. He was not in any mood to be held by the person who was the root cause of his pain. As soon as they were high enough, he pushed away from her with his good arm and started flapping his wings. Leaving Willow to contemplate the error of her ways alone. He looked back but the bear and the humans were nowhere to be seen, which was hopefully a good sign.

Flying back to their campsite, Giles realized several things. One, carrying heavy things while flying was extremely difficult. Two, carrying heavy bags that were also not very aerodynamic just made it worse. And three, it was now late at night and the heat of the day that had given them quite a nice lift earlier in the night had mostly cooled off thanks to the ocean breeze. Both he and Buffy were flying completely under their own power. Luckily, he could draft off of her and let her larger wings do more of the work.

Giles and Buffy returned to camp each carrying large bags. Buffy's bags held enough leather clothes for everyone along with some leather-working tools and extra leather for customizing the outfits. Giles bag held lots of books. Every book he had that even mentioned gargoyles and a few books on magic and undoing magical curses. But he didn't get to look at them just yet. First, he had to take a look at Xander's arm. He made sure it was set correctly first, then made a crude splint and bandaged the deep scratches he'd received. "The healing properties of stone sleep should repair this," he announced. "Just to be sure, cover your arm with your wing at sunrise.

"It seems you've also instinctively found one of a gargoyle's main weapons: Fear," Giles said when he heard Xander's story about how his roar made the bear pause. "Buffy does it with quips, but giving your enemies pause is a powerful force multiplier, whether it's against bears or vampires. Our entire bodies are designed to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies, from sharp talons to glowing eyes to our large wings and a deep roar." Giles snapped his wings out quickly, surprising Willow and making her jump a little. "It's good to keep in mind, but not good to rely on it. Which is why I was going to mention it much later in your training."

Next was a late lunch of venison. During which, he got to hear all three sides to the tale. While they talked, Amy experimented with whether the venison tasted better raw or cooked. The consensus was that cooked still tasted better but that raw tasted surprisingly good to everyone, including Buffy, once she was coaxed to try it. Giles was very certain that their new bodies would have no trouble digesting raw or even rancid meat if they needed to scavenge. Their digestive tracts were likely quite a bit stronger than they had been as humans. They were certainly able to hold more food.** Five gargoyles had positively demolished the deer that had been brought back; to the point that Amy was showing Buffy how to crack open ribs to get the marrow.

Then it was time for the speeches. Particularly to Willow, who had shown an astounding lack of common sense and a naïveté that needed to be sharply corrected lest it endanger them all in the future. Just to be fair, everyone was forced to endure a speech about all the dangers of the Los Padres National Forest including bears, cougars, wild boar, poisonous snakes, scorpions, and most dangerous of all: humans.

"Now is not the time to go introducing yourself to random strangers. Our safety, and the safety of the entire clan, relies on our anonymity. Do not endanger that except in dire need. A bear trying to get a camper's food is not such an example. Bears are hearty creatures, perfectly capable of feeding themselves without our help." He fixed Willow with a glare for a very uncomfortable 15 seconds before going on. "So, unless you are planning on eating them, leave the bears alone."

* * *

** An average small deer weighs ~110lbs field dressed and should yield ~45lbs of meat. ( ) Divided by 5 gargoyles, is 9lbs each. Comparing gargoyles to wolves instead of humans for metabolic rate, wolves need 7lbs of meat per day to stay healthy and can eat 22+lbs at one sitting. (Per International Wolf Center) So downing one deer per day for the clan should be fairly typical.

* * *

A/N: Giles' quote about outlaws is from Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins

A/N2: Black bears do not 'Roar'. The closest thing would be something like a bawl they will make when they are badly injured. A rhythmic pulsing sound indicates aggressiveness. Woofs (strong exhalation) and jaw popping indicate that the animal is afraid/uncertain. If it feels threatened, then it may attack.

And finally, my muse dines on your reviews. Please feed the muse. She is not a bear and cannot forage on her own.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

Giles and Willow spent the rest of the night researching magic and how to un-turn someone from a gargoyle back into a human. They also researched gargoyles to learn all they could about their new cousins and themselves as well. Xander also helped them since his broken arm meant he wasn't much use to Buffy and Amy, who were working on customizing their new clothing, and he really didn't have much else to do.

"Okay," Buffy announced as she and Amy brought over their new clothes. "Here are your new leather jackets and pants. They should be better at standing up to fighting and training than what we were wearing. Also, they're all black, so those of us who don't like their coloring can better hide that fact." She smirked at Xander before demonstrating how to put on the jackets.

Xander noticed something as Buffy put on her jacket. Something that he, as a teenaged male should have noticed long ago, but hadn't with all the strangeness going on. Buffy didn't have any breasts. Well, not like she'd had as a human. She wasn't wearing a bra so he could see her nipples through the fabric of her shirt but there was none of the soft plumpness behind it that he had so admired whenever he thought she, or any other girl, wasn't looking. He surreptitiously checked on Amy and Willow as well and found them similarly bereft. He sighed. A life without the sun and without boobies even though he lived in southern California. Fate was a cruel mistress it seemed. He turned his attention back to Buffy.

"Okay, as you can guess, there's no way to easily thread our wings through any sized hole in a jacket. It's much easier to just cut all the way through." she put the jacket on to show how three strips of leather now hung on either side of her folded wings and down her back between them. "And underneath the webbing-"

"It's called a membrane," Giles interrupted.

"Membrane. Whatever. Underneath it, two snaps keep it secure but allow for easy removal when you want without damaging the coat." She demonstrated how the snaps made the coats look like coats again. If you could ignore the elbow spikes coming out of the reinforced holes in the elbows.

"Xander, you'll get yours tomorrow, once your arm is healed," Amy said as she finished handing out clothes to everyone else.

"The biggest problem is that we've got these big, gaping holes in the coats where the _membrane_ comes through and runs down our sides. You can hold them closed with your wings like this," Buffy demonstrated pulling her wings in tight to her sides, "but nothing's holding them closed when you're flying. I'll have to figure out how to fix that later. For now, I gave them a stiff seam so they wouldn't flap as much when we fly." Buffy shrugged. "The pants were a little easier. There's a button in the back over a hole for your tail. You can't see it but you can reach it to fasten it yourself easy enough." Buffy turned and pointed out the new hole around her tail and the button over it, holding her pants up. The pants similarly had holes in the knees for everyone's knee spikes. They also only came down to the false knee, where the foot/ankle bent forward and looked kind of like a backwards facing knee.

Buffy handed out the rest of the clothing. Giles took off his tweed jacket and replaced it with the new leather one. He did leave his undershirt on, though. No one noticed that he surreptitiously checked to make sure there weren't any holes on the inside of that shirt's left arm. Not that any of the children would likely care that he had a tattoo there from his youth. Or know what it meant.

Then, everyone but Xander got to try out their new clothing in a training session with Giles. Though he did watch, and imitated as much as he could without contact. Even so, his arm ached horribly. Finally, sunrise came with blissful sleep.

* * *

Xander woke the next evening feeling great. He took off the splint and moved his arm, then tested it by hitting his hand into his palm. No pain. He had to admit, healing a broken arm in a day was a pretty neat trick, and a nice pro to balance out the cons of stone sleep.

"I'm sorry, Xander. Is your arm better now?" Willow asked meekly.

Xander sighed. "Forget it. Just don't do it again."

Willow nodded enthusiastically and gave him a fangy smile. "Oh, I learned my lesson. Bears are food, not friends. Got it."

He opened up his arms and she rushed in for a Xander-hug. (Patent Pending) It was slightly different with their wings and their strength. You had to hug a gargoyle more up near the head and/or be careful of your strength. Wings are fragile and easy to damage.

After Xander dressed in his new leathers, they all took off and headed for Sunnydale.

* * *

Giles bought a paper out of a newspaper machine. He handed part of it to Willow. Xander got a peek at a headline about campers – nicknamed the Goldilockses – that claimed to have been attacked by three bears the night before. Willow blushed and folded it away. Nothing more was said about the incident, though. With that, the clan took to the air again to fly over to Buffy's house.

Joyce did a very good job of hiding her shock/fear at having five rather scary monsters on her porch, but quickly waved them all in without actually saying the words. It seemed as though Buffy and Giles' speeches/warnings to Joyce had taken hold pretty well. Xander noticed he had to duck just a little going through the doorway and still managed to catch his wings on the top of the door frame. He wondered just how tall all of them were now. Buffy was now as tall as her mother, which she hadn't been even close to a few weeks ago, the first and only time he'd seen Buffy side by side with her mother. And Buffy was currently barefoot while her mother was wearing low heels.

"Wow," Joyce broke the silence. "You all look very nice in your new outfits."

"Thank you," Giles answered. "Buffy picked them out and did much of the work in designing and modifying them to fit our new forms."

Buffy was torn between being mortified or proud at being praised in front of her mother and her friends like that. Blushing worked as a reaction either way, though it was hard to tell with her mottled green and brown coloring.

"Who's hungry?" Joyce asked, sparing her daughter any further embarrassment.

* * *

After the meal, the gargoyles prepared to launch themselves (very carefully) from the Summers' roof.

"I think I ought to take each of you out to train you 1-on-1 in the slaying of vampires and other demons," Giles announced. "Willow, why don't you come with me first? Buffy, as you have the most experience, you take point in your group." Then he and a nervous Willow took off from the chimney.

Willow flew slightly below and behind Giles, drafting off of him to save energy. "This is about the bear again, isn't it?" She had to repeat herself a bit louder again before he heard her. The fact that he was in front of her and the noise from the wind served to make it harder for him to hear her.

"Actually, no. You've learned your lesson from that already, I believe," Giles said, looking back. "I wanted you to come with me first because I wanted you children to learn proper slaying techniques from me before you learned the wrong techniques from Buffy, and I figured that you would be the best to start with, as Xander and Amy both have their own ideas already about how to fight. They would thus be harder for Buffy to corrupt."

"Corrupt?" Willow asked, her voice betraying the smirk he couldn't see.

Giles sighed. "Buffy is—_was_ an interesting Slayer. And like all Slayers she took to martial arts training quite readily and developed her own system out of the many she was taught. Her system, however... how do I put this? It's too... showy. There are far more leaps and backflips and spins than a Slayer normally has. She's also rather inefficient. What I plan on showing you is: find a demon, slay the demon, and move on. Buffy tends to play with her victims overmuch."

"Oh. Okay," Willow replied, unsure of exactly what was about to happen, but trusting him to guide her.

There was no more talking as they flew through the silent night. Their eyes scanned back and forth over the ground below, their amazing night vision made it easy to see every detail on the ground. It also made it easy to spot vampires. The undead were easy to tell apart from the few living souls out that late. Giles spotted the vampire first and dove for him, with Willow right behind. Willow was reminded of the attack Xander used to save her from the bear when Giles silently plowed into the vampire, sending him sprawling. Giles landed where the vampire had been and Willow landed next to him.

"Now, normally, I would prefer to just dust him on the first attack. But that's your job," he said as he handed her a stake. "He's stunned for the moment, though I do suggest you hurry. And remember: if you stake his heart quickly, then he won't have a chance to hit you back."

It was Willow's turn to be stunned. A few nights of martial arts training and he just hands her a stake and tells her to aim for the heart? She was startled a bit as she realized the vampire was getting up and she had just missed her best chance to dust him. The vamp spotted her standing there with a stake and charged. Willow was reminded for the second time that night of the bear charging at her, but this time, there was no Xander coming to save her. She was on her own. Her eyes flared red as adrenaline flooded her body. Time seemed to slow down just a bit. She realized that the vampire, with its hand back for the attack, was leaving his chest rather unprotected. She plunged her stake forward, closed her eyes, and waited for the inevitable blow.

The blow never came.

"Perfect," Giles came out from behind a tree in front of Willow. Somehow he'd made his way behind the vampire without either of them noticing. "Other than losing your stake to the dusting, that was absolutely flawless, Willow," he announced, beaming.

She beamed back.

"Next time, if you want, you can pull your stake out during that half second before the vampire dusts so you can reuse it. Otherwise I have absolutely no other pointers to give you." He paused. "Don't take this the wrong way, and please don't tell Buffy. You might never be the fighter that Buffy or Xander are going to be. But I think you would have made an even better Slayer."

Willow swallowed and nodded at the compliment as they used a mausoleum as a launching pad for more hunting.

* * *

Xander swooped down at the latest vampire they'd found. It was his turn. He glided up behind the guy, plunged a stake in, and raised his wings as he went past the guy, his speed bringing him back up to rejoin Amy before the vamp crumpled into dust. They had carried Buffy back to her mother's house after her turn trying that move, because she'd forgotten about the delay in vamps dusting and hadn't raised her wing. She hadn't broken anything, but she was too sore for more patrolling and Joyce was more than happy enough to have extra mother/daughter time right now.

"We need longer stakes," Amy observed. "Like how knights would stab down from their horse at footmen with a big spear? We need something like that, except that our wings are our horse."

"I was actually thinking of air-to-ground missiles myself. But a lance might work too. Kind of bulky to be carrying, but it might be worth it."

"Yeah, a lance!" Amy nodded. That was the word she was looking for. "Would've been nice to have against that bear too."

"I think I needed the blunt force to knock him away from Willow," Xander countered. "But after that, yeah. Or if Willow had had one to begin with?" Then again, she probably wouldn't have been willing to use it at that time.

"When we get back to the forest, we should start work on some. Might be good for hunting too," Amy decided.

* * *

"Thank you, Mom. But really, I'm fine. Just too sore to want to go flying all over the place when there are four others who can do it for me. And I'll feel great when I wake up tomorrow night," Buffy insisted as she sipped her hot chocolate.

Joyce just gave her a tight smile. "I don't care if you're 15 or 80; human, slayer, gargoyle, or one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater. It's a mother's prerogative to worry. So I'm going to worry."

Buffy giggled at her mother's joke. "Xander's the purple one. And he has both eyes and four horns," she pointed out. "But you can worry less now. Cause gargoyle healing? Awesome. Last night Willow decided that some bear reminded her of Yogi. But it didn't like the comparison."

"Oh my gosh, it attacked Willow? And she looks fine today," Joyce was shocked.

"It never touched her, actually. Xander was there in a flash and knocked the thing away from her. Just like he did for me tonight. He got a broken arm for his trouble, though, which was healed when we woke up today- I mean night. He got the broken arm from playing with the bear last night, not from the vampire," Buffy explained her disjointed babble.

Joyce was nonplussed. "Let me get this straight: last night, Xander saved Willow from a bear attack and broke his arm doing so. And tonight, he saved you after you crashed into a vampire?"

"Mostly. I dusted the vamp I was after, he just wasn't dust when my wing tried to go through him. I just didn't know about the other vamp that was hiding behind a mausoleum. Xander dusted that one for me while I was getting the number of that train."

They were quiet for a bit while Joyce processed that information. She took a sip of her tea before speaking, "I'm closing the gallery."

"Mom. Please-"

Joyce held up her hand to stop any debate. "I'm selling off what inventory I have and breaking my lease. There's another gallery in town that's interested in hiring me. They close at sundown anyway, so I'll be home whenever you need me. And this isn't because you transformed. Or not _just_ because you transformed. Opening a gallery is a lot of work. It takes a lot of investment. Of time, not just of capital. And if I had found out and believed that you were the Slayer right now, I would be doing the same thing. I need to be here for you right now much more than I need the promise that maybe someday I'll make more money than I can right now."

"Mom. Are you sure? The gallery was, like, your dream," Buffy reminded her.

"_You_ are my dream. There is nothing more important in my life than you. I want you to know that, Buffy," Joyce said seriously.

Big, emotional hug time.

"Can I ask you another question?" Joyce asked, not letting go.

Buffy just nodded.

"How long do you think it will take Mr. Giles to find your... cure?" Joyce refused to ask whether she would _ever_ be cured.

"Um, well... Giles seems pretty good at this research thing. He found out about the Harvest and the Master pretty quick. But I really haven't known him that long. Why?" Buffy had a feeling she wasn't going to like the answer.

"Sheila Rosenberg called today asking where Willow was. I had to tell her the truth that Willow had never slept over here. They're going to declare her missing tomorrow morning. Amy's already been declared missing. It will look... odd if I don't do the same for you. Are you okay with that?" Joyce tensed, waiting for the accusations.

Buffy let out a sigh of relief. "What? Yeah. Go for it, Mom. We all already discussed it as a clan and I figured you already had. Oh, and if you could... Xander would like you to remind his parents to declare him missing too. He doesn't trust them to remember on their own, I guess. I thought it was something serious. By the way, if you're asked, Giles would like you to say that you met him and don't think he's capable of anything 'nefarious'. His word, not mine. He's worried he's going to get blamed for the disappearances since we all disappeared together. Something about English people and the family name. Giles explained it, but I kinda tuned it out."

"I know the feeling," Joyce said dryly.

Buffy opened her mouth to retort, but could only giggle and fall into her mother's arms. It was true after all. Some things didn't change no matter what her form was. And snuggling with her mother still made her feel good.

* * *

A/N: "Bears are food, not friends." Why is it that in a cartoon with talking fish and hippie sea turtles, that the sharks who are trying not to eat other fish, bug me the most?

A/N2: Do not own Yogi the Bear or associated characters. I don't even own a pic-i-nic basket.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

Getting back to the forest that night, all the children set off to start making their own weapons. Giles looked over at where Xander and Amy were making very long spears. He didn't try to dissuade them at all. Nor did he deter Buffy and Willow from making some smaller spears. Theirs were only about 3 feet long or so. He frowned, though, thinking they were a bit too short to be used as spears while flying.

"They're javelins," Buffy explained when he stared for too long. "I decided I want to try staying out of reach this time."

Giles nodded. Now it was clear. "Ah. You should taper one end a bit more than the other then. The heavy end is the head. That will keep them flying straight instead of going sideways when you throw them," he advised.

Once their weapons were ready, he sent the children out to hunt while he did research. Secure in the knowledge that there was very little in the forest that could harm a pack of four gargoyles—especially as they were now even better armed than normal, young and untrained though they might be. And the best way for them to learn was to actually go out and hunt by themselves.

* * *

Amy decided that lances were not the optimal weapon for flying monsters. Transporting them was tricky. They could be held underneath you easily enough to cut wind resistance going forward, but then their momentum and wind resistance while turning reduced your maneuverability a lot. It was just plain hard to turn while carrying those poles. Still, it might be worth it for hunting. They were hunting bear this time and had already passed over a couple herds of deer. They were in the same area they had encountered the bear the other day. And this time, Willow wasn't going to try to make friends.

Buffy was the first to spot the bear. She waggled her wings back and forth a few times to get everybody's attention, then pointed. The bear was moving slowly and possibly limping slightly. There was a good chance that this was their bear. By prior agreement, Xander had first crack at the bear, as they had unfinished business. Then Buffy, as she wanted to try out her javelins. If it was still alive after that, Amy could test her spear out too. If it survived that, Willow had some javelins of her own, though she wasn't sure how good she would be with them.

Xander turned and dove at the bear, adjusting his lance to aim at the bear's heart. This wasn't just about revenge or even hunting. This was also a test of the weapons they'd made to see how they might work against vampires and demons. The biggest trick was going to be hitting the heart and pulling the lance out again before it dusted along with the vampire. He stabbed forward with the lance just as he reached the bear and tried to pull it back again, but he was moving too fast and couldn't pull the wooden tip back out. The lance was ripped from his hands and stayed with the bear. Worse, it didn't feel like it had gone in very far and had only made the bear angry while alerting it that predators were after it. The bear gave a roar of pain and turned to face whatever it was that had stabbed it.

Luckily, Xander still had plenty of speed and simply pulled up and out of reach of the angry bear. Which was Buffy's cue. She dove and readied a javelin in her right hand. She had to hold it in a slightly odd grip to avoid stabbing her own wings. It also meant she couldn't draw it all the way back since her arm hit the forward edge of her wing, but between her gargoyle strength, her diving speed, and gravity, she was pretty sure she'd have enough power to put this bear down; which was a lot bigger than she'd thought it would be from the descriptions. The bear was worrying the wound where Xander's huge spear (compensating much?) was still lodged in its side. She drew back her arm and released, just as the bear finally worked the lance free and turned. Its turning made Buffy miss her intended target and, when her javelin should have gone right through the heart, it instead lodged deeply in its shoulder. She at least had the satisfaction of knowing hers went deeper as she pulled up. And if Amy missed like Xander did, then she and Willow still had two more shots each while they had none.

Amy dove. Instead of the way Xander had been holding his lance in his hand as he tried (and failed) to retrieve it, she couched her lance under her shoulder, giving the lance extra grip to turn her momentum into piercing power on the bear's hide. She also dove further away and came at the bear more horizontally than the others had. She bore down on the bear and slammed her lance home. It felt like her lance had hit a brick wall but she held on tightly. If she didn't, the back of the lance was going to go through her wing. She watched in slow motion as the lance slid into the bear and then started slowing and flexing as her momentum and the bear's fought each other. And then the battle was over... the lance lost.

SNAP!

There wasn't any pain. She knew there should have been pain but there just wasn't any. There _was_ a lot of shouting though she couldn't make out any of it. She looked over and the bear was well and truly dead not far from her. The lance that had briefly connected them was broken again, this time intentionally. The three gargoyles were arguing over her.

"She's been stabbed," Buffy said. "We need to get it out of her!"

"No! We need to leave it in. It's staunching the blood flow. She'll die if we take it out!" Willow countered.

"This coming from the girl who tried to make friends with a bear?" Buffy indicated the dead animal next to them.

"That was different. I never studied bears. I've studied first aid. All of us first aid certified, raise your hand," Willow challenged. She and Xander both raised theirs.

"Xander?" Buffy queried.

"If I remember correctly, Willow's right. You're supposed to leave the object in until you get medical attention," Xander said much more calmly than either girl.

"Exactly. _Medical attention._ Which we have none of out here," Buffy pointed out. Everyone else fell silent.

"The sun," Amy whispered.

Xander snapped his fingers. "The sun will heal her. All we have to do is pull out the stick just before sunrise!"

"Do we move her?" Buffy wondered. "Maybe Giles will have a better idea."

"We don't move her unless we absolutely have to," Willow shook her head. "But it would be a good idea for you to go fetch him. He should know so he doesn't worry, and he might have some good ideas, too. But we won't try moving her until much closer to sunrise."

Before Buffy left, Amy grabbed her arm, "Sorry about ruining the jacket you gave me," she said weakly, giving the other girl a small smile. Buffy assured her she would make her a new one.

* * *

Giles and Buffy arrived to find that Willow had gone off to get Amy some water, as she was kind of thirsty. Giles had to take Xander's vitals (because Xander had been resting while he and Buffy had just been flying) to establish a baseline before he could take Amy's. He found that hers were fairly close to Xander's and hoped that meant she was doing well. As there were no experts on gargoyle physiology he could ask, that was the best they could do. That and make her comfortable. Xander was already well on his way to that. He had laid her on her good side and placed his jacket under her head to act as a pillow. He was telling her the story of how they had stopped the Harvest to keep her mind awake and occupied.

"I had wondered what happened to him. I understand why you couldn't tell me," Amy laid a comforting hand on his as he reached the part about staking Jesse. "Thank you for telling me."

Just then, Willow returned from her water wanderings. "I don't know if anyone else realized this but we really don't have a way to carry water. I had to uh, 'borrow' this canteen from some campers."

Giles took the canteen and a pill and gave them to Amy. "After hearing about Xander's incident, Mrs. Summers insisted that I take her bottle of ibuprofen. We'll start with one for now and see how gargoyle physiology deals with it. I would rather not be testing this on you while injured but it appears we have no choice. Let me know if you feel any different." Willow also took a pill to act as a guinea pig. If she had a reaction too, then they would know for sure.

The rest of the night passed very slowly for everyone. Eventually, Buffy even told everyone the story of how she'd been called at Hemery, about Merrick dying to save her, and about burning down the gym to kill Lothos. Not a story she had been planning on telling the others. Ever. But they were all so starved for entertainment and stimulation. Giles even told a few tamer stories from his own youth. He was less worried about melancholy than he had been that first night, as the children had since proven themselves to be extremely resilient. But a winter night held a lot of time to fill for gargoyles.

They were, all of them, used to a full school day filled with things of greater or lesser importance to distract them. And then after school it was home to do homework and watch TV; and for some of them, to go patrolling. All of them suddenly found themselves with a little over 13 hours of completely unstructured time and the lack of televisions in Los Padres Forest nixed one of the ways they all dealt with unexpected free time. Not that there was anything worth watching on when they would be viewing anyway, seeing as the times with halfway-decent programming were when people were still awake, which was when they did most of their patrolling.

And it was even worse when they were all trying to be supportive of Amy as she laid there. Buffy and Willow took to eating the nearby bear raw, possibly as their way of coping. Even Amy ate more than Xander or Giles, who seemed to have lost their appetites with Amy seriously wounded.

Just before sunrise, Giles yanked what was left of the lance out of Amy's side, advising her to get it covered quickly before she turned to stone so that it could heal properly. Apparently, wounds that weren't covered by something, usually their wings, would scar instead of fully healing.

* * *

Cordelia Chase was torn. On the one hand, in the space of a couple of weeks, three of the most annoying people in the school and the new girl who tried to kill her at the Bronze had all disappeared, along with the new librarian. Rumor had it that he'd killed and ate them before burning down the Madison house to cover his tracks. But whatever about that. What concerned her was that three of her favorite targets for sniping were now gone. And heaping the abuse on her remaining targets wasn't going to work. She'd actually made Jonathan cry the other day. Which wasn't her intent, even if she didn't feel sorry about that, she knew she couldn't do that every day or he'd probably snap. She'd have to think of something, and soon.

* * *

Amy stretched as she stood up. "Mortal wounds healed in one day. A girl could get used to this." Willow brought her some meat she had scraped together from the bear. Literally scraped. A day sitting out exposed to the predations of the nearby scavengers after the gargoyles had eaten the choicest cuts didn't leave much.

"Though your jacket won't," Buffy said, flicking the tattered pieces around the hole. "I'll have to patch it for now. We can't hit that store again so soon."

Amy shrugged and licked her talons clean. "I'll live. And that's what's important."

"Indeed," Giles agreed. "And I think we've decided that lances are _not_ the way to attack vampires from the air?" _At least not yet,_ he thought. He didn't have the time to train them in proper lance technique right now. Maybe someday.

"Indubitably," Xander agreed with a slight, fake, British accent.

"Javelins are okay," Buffy said. "As long as they stand still. Or maybe as a way of softening them up."

Giles nodded. "Be careful though. Vampires and demons are more dangerous than any bear. Weapons you throw at them can very easily be turned against you."

"Like, throw them back at me?" Buffy realized.

"That or use them as short spears should someone land and try to take them down hand to hand after that. An unarmed vampire is trouble. An armed one, exponentially more," Giles said.

"So why aren't they all armed?" Xander had to wonder.

"Mostly it's superfluous. Vampires are so much stronger and faster than they were when their bodies were alive. Add in the fact that they come with ready-made weapons in their claws and teeth that most simply don't think about it. I'm surprised any of you thought of it, seeing as we are in a similar situation with having new bodies with new, built-in weapons. It might also be to blend in with humans, which is their best defense. But also it's because using weapons on humans would lose them blood, which is the whole reason they are attacking in the first place," Giles explained.

Buffy chuckled at that. "Best defense? What do vampires have to fear from normal humans?"

Giles fixed her with a hard stare and then every one of the children in turn met his eyes. "Understand this, if I teach you nothing else. If Homo Sapiens are good at one thing, it's killing other things. We're- _They're_ so good at it that they've made entire other species cease to exist without even trying. And I'm not just talking about Dodos. Take the European lion for example."

"There aren't any lions in Europe," Willow pointed out.

"Not any more. They went extinct around 100 AD, well before humans discovered gunpowder," Giles said seriously. Trying with all his might to make them understand the danger they faced if they were ever discovered.

"If humans are so tough, why are we keeping this stuff a secret? Why not just tell people about vamps and let them deal with them?" Amy had to ask.

"Because, in the past, when humans found out about the supernatural, it's not the most evil fiends around that are targeted first. It's the good and benign creatures that bear the first brunt. Along with the good witches. Basically anything that doesn't wish to fight humans is killed first and then they broaden their searches to kill off the evil all around them. The Slayer always works in secret to protect herself and _that_ is why we must do the same thing," Giles finished his speech. "Come Xander, I think you and I will go patrolling tonight."

* * *

A/N: Kinda breaking my own trope on this one. Those of you who have read some of my other stuff might know that I'm big on spears. I like them a lot more than stakes or even swords. But in this case, they just weren't the right weapon.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9.

Despite what Giles had shown him (plunge and move on), Xander just wasn't capable of ignoring the attacks of the vampires. His instinct to block and protect himself was just too strong. Still, he wasn't a bad fighter. Instinct plus the strength and speed of his new form combined to become more than any two vampires could handle. He also seemed to have a very good grasp of how to use his tail in combat, which became very important when he got surrounded. Still, after tussles with a few smaller groups of vampires, he was looking like he'd seen better days, even if he was grinning from ear to ear.

They found the girls at Buffy's house. It didn't appear that they'd patrolled at all and had simply had a girls' night in.

"Xander!" Willow jumped up from the couch when she saw his appearance. "Are you okay?"

Xander gave her a look. "Of course. Just a few scratches."

"I'm very sorry to intrude, Joyce. But if I might remind your daughter and her friends that we still have a sacred duty?" Giles gave them a pointed look.

"We were just taking a break while I fixed Amy's coat," Buffy said defensively despite the fact that Joyce and the three female gargoyles were all huddled on the couch watching TV. She pointed out the fixed coat, sitting on the coffee table.

Giles looked and saw that the jacket was indeed fixed. "Wonderful. Now that it's fixed, might we try hunting demons again?"

Buffy frowned. "I've been—I was the Slayer for over a year and I never Slayed anything but Vampires."

"Perhaps. But this is the Hellmouth, and as such, it attracts all manner of beasts. Why, just tonight, Xander got what I believe is a Hychenian demon."

"Gesundheit," Buffy quipped at the nearly unpronounceable name.

"Yes, yes. Could we go now?" Giles motioned towards the door.

"Bye, mom. Thanks for having us over," Buffy said as she hugged her mom goodbye.

"Any time, dear," Joyce assured her daughter, sad that they couldn't stay longer.

* * *

"From now on, I'm taking one night off each week to be with my mom, Giles," Buffy stated as she walked out the front door.

"Yes, well, why don't we discuss this later?" Giles replied.

"I'm not discussing. I'm _telling_ you that I'm taking it off. In fact, I think all of us could each have one night off. Two pairs of us should be plenty to handle most of the-" Buffy stiffened and looked out into the night. "Vampire."

"Are you sure?" Giles wondered, looking in the direction Buffy was looking. Their night-vision abilities made it very easy to pick out vampires but the angle that Giles was currently looking left him looking at a coniferous bush that hid the man in question.

"No. But something's off with that guy," Buffy said. "Plus, whoever you are, buddy, you should know that we can see in the dark pretty dang well so that whole hiding in the shadows thing doesn't work on us. Come out so we can see your whole face."

The man stepped forward.

"Angel?"

Xander chuckled. "_This_ is your tall, dark, and mysterious?" Giles had explained that it was easier for them to spot vampires thanks to their improved night vision, but he was pretty sure he would have pegged this guy even when he was a human.

Angel readied himself for a fight despite—or maybe because of—the fact that the monsters knew his name. He wasn't exactly a popular guy in town among demons. "Do I know you?"

"Xander, shut up." Then to Angel, "It's me, Buffy." She had to admit, she knew she looked different. But Angel looked different too. For starters, he'd shrunk. Or maybe she'd just gotten taller. Taller was nice. Then there was the fact that he was clearly a vampire. "Oh my god! Did you get turned?"

A lot of tension left Angel's shoulders with that question. He shook his head. "It's a long story. What happened to you?"

"It's a long story," she countered. She could be tall (yippee), dark, and mysterious now, too. "But why don't you summarize your story for me? Give me the cliff notes?"

"I'd rather not," Angel frowned.

"Or, I could just dust you," Buffy offered and pulled a stake to prove it.

"Angelus," Giles finally spoke up. The name Angel and his face had triggered the memory of a daguerreotype in one of his books.

"That was a long time ago," Angel hung his head. "I got my soul back since then."

"Your what?" Buffy quirked her head to the side.

Angel furrowed his brow. "My soul. Listen, if I have to explain what a soul is to you, this is going to be a really long story," he snapped. "What _are_ you people?"

It was Xander that answered. "We are the terror that _flaps_ in the night. We are the bubble gum that sticks in your poofy hair. We are-"

"Xander," Buffy snapped, cutting him off. Then she turned back to Angel. "How does your soul change things?" she prodded.

"When you become a vampire, you die. Your soul moves on and a demon takes its place. But my demon crossed some gypsies and they cursed my soul back into me. I'm not alive and I get to remember all the things the demon did while it was in my body. But I have a soul and a conscience again."

"And you don't eat people?" Buffy clarified. She was pretty sure that Hitler had had a soul too.

"Pig's blood. From the butcher on 49th," Angel answered quickly. Mentally, he was going over the various sewer access points around the area and wondering if he could get to one before these—things got to him.

Buffy tucked her stake away.

"Buffy, are you sure?" Giles asked.

"He gave us some cryptic hints about the Master and the Harvest. I'm not about to invite him into my home, but I'm willing to let him live. For now," she turned back to the vampire. "Got any other quick tips for us?" Buffy asked, narrowing her eyes.

"There's a new guy. He's fast. Metal claws. Don't give him a moment's mercy." Angel finally got to the reason he'd come here in the first place. He reached for an arm that was wet with blood and had several slashes across its leather sleeve. Then he turned and tried very hard to make it look like he was walking casually away when he was really scared for his unlife.

"Also, stop hanging around outside my house. It's creepy!" she yelled after him. Then she turned to the others. "If you guys ever see that guy or any vamp around here again and they don't have a _really_ good excuse, please dust them."

Xander raised his hand. "Can I dust him anyway?"

"Let's see if this Dr. Claw guy is for real. If not, then sure," Buffy said before jumping onto the roof of a nearby house and taking off for the school.

"Let's get dangerous!" Xander whispered as he took off.

* * *

"Ooh, that's not good," Willow said from her computer. "They found Dr. Gregory in the refrigerator at school today. He was missing his head."

"Well, that's more than I found." Giles said coming out of his office. "All I found was one oblique reference to a vampire who displeased the Master and cut his hand off in penance."

"Dr. Claw?" Buffy asked.

"Just Mister Claw. He obviously dropped out of medical school after he lost his hand," Xander quipped. "So, why would he come after a teacher?" Xander had to wonder.

"I'm not certain he did. There was an incident two nights ago," Giles answered as he walked over to the table and picked up the newspaper. "Uh, involving a homeless person in Weatherly Park. He was practically shredded, which closely matches the wound on Angel's arm but, uh, nothing like Dr. Gregory."

"So we've got two baddies?" Buffy clarified. "Well, we've got a location on one. You and Willow want to keep researching whatever likes to behead its victims? I'll take Xander and Amy with me to look for the Shredder."

Xander jumped up at that. "Let's get Shredder! _Teenage, mutant, ninja gargoyles. Teenage, mutant, ninja gargoyles. Teenage, mutant, ninja gargoyles. Stone by day, flesh by night. Gargoyle power!_"

The two girls slapped him upside the head simultaneously.

* * *

Cruising over Weatherly Park got them nothing. No vamps in sight, but a whole lot of homeless people. Xander hadn't known there had been this many homeless in Sunnydale. And here they were, all together like one big, vamp buffet. They even had a fence around the park high enough to stop most humans but not most vampires. Buffy pointed out the sewer access door conveniently placed to allow vamps to snack at their leisure. They didn't even need to move a manhole cover.

"You guys wait here with those javelins to give me air support. I'll go check it out," Xander said then dove to the ground. Luckily, the homeless people seemed to instinctively avoid the area around the sewer access so there were no humans around to see him. He started clearing some light brush that had been piled in front of the door in a bad camouflage job. His eyes allowed him to see fairly well into the darkness and could see the man with the claws long before he sprang at him, and was plenty ready for the ambush. He jumped back to make sure the fight was under open skies where he would have the advantage as well as covering fire, should he need it.

The vampire swung his claws and Xander caught them. Not the arm behind them, but the claws themselves. Having endured a broken arm for most of a night with no pain meds had reset what he called pain. Yes, this freaking hurt. But catching the blades in his bare hand, combined with a feral grin and glowing eyes, really freaked the vampire out. Plus, he was pretty sure the girls above him would be impressed and that was the reason that teenaged boys did most of the stupid stuff they did. He clenched his fist, ruining the claws forever then pulled hard and tore the claws right off vamp's stub of an arm. The vamp clearly didn't like that and howled in pain.

Voices broke through the night. "Hold it! Police!" "Did you see that?" "I got nothing here!" "Look up there!"

The girls had been spotted. Xander looked up too to make sure they were heading away. They were. He turned back and found that the vamp had a good lead on him. Xander tossed the claws away then dropped to all fours for maximum speed. He had almost caught up when the vamp leaped a fence. Not a fence that Xander would have any trouble clearing, but there was a woman there and he was afraid that if he pressed, the vamp might take her hostage. He paused and watched from behind some bushes. The woman turned to face the demon, but instead of her running and screaming, the vampire hissed and took off like it was scared of _her_. It bolted into the sewers, not a place Xander felt like chasing it right now. Besides, this woman was far more interesting. Once she was a ways away, he hopped the fence too and started following her.

Halfway down the block, she stopped and turned her head so it faced behind her, far further than any human could turn their head. "You know, it's not polite to follow a lady home like that."

_Okay, very much not human._ Xander thought when the woman's head turned nearly 180°. _ But then again, who am I to talk? And if she scares off vampires, then maybe she's one of the good guys. _ He stepped out of the shadows. "Sorry about that. You kind of scared away the vampire I was hunting. I was curious who you were. And why that vamp was afraid of you. Do you hunt them too?"

"Sorry about scaring him off but no, I don't hunt them. They don't taste very good. They turn to ash as soon as you bite off their heads," the woman said. "Why don't you come to my house? I could _make_ you dinner."

"That's very kind of you," Xander said. He looked back over his shoulder and could still see the flashlights of the search party looking for that vampire. Plenty of flashlight beams were still searching the empty skies as well. He decided that inside with someone who didn't mind his appearance was safer. "Thank you."

* * *

Natalie French, as she introduced herself, had a very nice home. And made a very fine martini if he did say so himself.

...and she had such lovely, mottled green skin that reminded him of Buffy. But that could have just been the martini talking. Or maybe it was the drugs, he was pretty sure it took more than one drink usually to make the room spin like that.

* * *

Xander groaned as he came awake in a cage in someone's basement.

Cries of, "Another monster!" welcomed him.

Between the hangover from the drugs and the yelling, Xander was not a happy camper. Especially not when he realized who his cellmate was. A stuck up jock with a severe attitude problem. "Blayne?"

"Who the hell are you?" Blayne yelled. "How the hell do you know my name?"

"First of all, I have a headache and very sharp claws. So stop yelling. And second of all, I'm here to save you. My name isn't important."

"Do you have a plan?" Blayne asked, quieter, but still too loud.

"Depends. What time is it?"

"Like two. Maybe three?"

"Good, we have time," Xander said and started working on the bars of his cage. He placed each foot on its own bar and bent his knees. He took hold of a bar between the two and started pulling/lifting.

"What are you doing?" Blayne yelled. "She's going to come down here and catch you!"

Xander heard a noise on the floor up above them. "Now she is, you idiot." Xander contemplated the fact that people in Sunnydale seemed to have the survival sense of lemmings. Worse, probably. He'd heard that lemmings weren't actually as dumb as they were usually depicted. Unlike Blayne, who was every bit as stupid as he acted.

Case in point, Blayne yelling, "Don't leave me, man!" as soon as Xander had worked himself free of the cage, thus attracting more attention to the fact that they were escaping.

Xander wondered if Blayne was just too dumb to live. But he hit the switch to open Blayne's cage anyway. As the other boy scrambled out, a gigantic praying mantis started down the steps. Xander grabbed Blayne, opened one of the small basement windows, and shoved him through. Xander turned just in time to catch a gigantic claw in his left hand. The same hand he'd caught the metal claws in a few hours ago. The new attack opened up wounds that had scabbed over and created new ones of its own. Suddenly, that whole catching-metal-claws-in-his-bare-hands thing didn't seem like it had been such a great idea.

He roared in pain, and the room seemed to glow brighter. At the same time he found some new reserves of strength, pushing the serrated arms back away from him. Then he pulled the claws forward as he twisted and executed the hip throw Giles had taught them only a few nights ago. He didn't stop to see where she landed and instead raced up the stairs in a single bound and out the door. Outside, he leapt to the top of Natalie's chimney and jumped yet again from there before beating his wings furiously to gain some altitude. Hopefully, the search parties were all dispersed by now and he could find some allies up here. Or at the very least, get some time for the drugs to wear off completely and get his bearings.

He looked down as the mantis bashed through her own front door. Xander breathed a sigh of relief that he'd had the foresight (or panic-induced terror) to gain some extra altitude. He didn't know much about giant insects, but those legs she was walking on, didn't look strong enough to allow her to reach him. Now, if she had been a giant grasshopper instead, that might have been a problem. "At least she doesn't have wings," he laughed to himself.

And then the back of her carapace split down the middle and two sets of wings popped out.

"Must learn to shut up," Xander managed before he turned and started flapping as hard and as fast as his own wings would carry him. The telltale 'buzz' of overly large insect wings grew louder and louder behind him.

* * *

A/N: writing a fic about cartoons seems to make me want to keep mentioning other cartoons. We are the terror... is from Darkwing Duck. Dr. Claw is from Inspector Gadget. Shredder is from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Don't own anything.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Alright, alright. I have learned my lesson. Canon is sacred. I will never, ever attempt to change canon again no matter how silly or that it doesn't make sense. No, wait. Yes I will.

* * *

_It is said that all art is self-portrait, yet we can only view art through the lens of our own psyche. Therefore, an artist may paint one image and his public see something else entirely. (Anthony Wharem)_

_Hodgeson's Law: Just repeat to yourself, "It's just a show. I should really relax."_

_Bellisario's Maxim: You shouldn't analyze this stuff too closely._

* * *

Chapter 10.

"Giles, we have to do something! There was a posse out there and it spotted us. They could have Xander!" Buffy cried.

"We _are_ doing something, Buffy. Willow is already doing her not-quite-legal computer thing and finding out all she can about this… _posse_ that spotted you, including where they're likely to take him should he be captured," the watcher said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Buffy without a clear path was like a hurricane standing still: pent up energy just spinning in place, waiting to be released. And until then, she vented that energy at those nearby.

"Got it!" Willow cried at last. "The search party was organized by the Sunnydale Police force and will be taking anyone captured directly to the city jail."

_Assuming he wasn't shot on sight,_ Giles mused. _Still, they hadn't heard any gunshots, which was a good sign._ Aloud, he went on, "So, it really was official." Giles was slightly shocked. Still, the claw marks had probably looked like they could have been man-made. It probably hadn't even occurred to those in charge that there could be anything other than another human serial killer.

Buffy said nothing. Instead, she raced to the roof and was off like a shot. The other gargoyles followed behind her as fast as they could.

* * *

Giles was the last to make it to the jail. It wasn't his age; he hadn't felt this good in years. No, it was his wings, or rather the lack thereof. Despite being only slightly smaller and thinner in stature than Xander, he had the smallest wings of all the gargoyles. Xander, Amy, and Willow all had proportionate wings to their size—well, maybe Xander should have had slightly larger wings to accommodate his bulk, but he still had the second largest wingspan in the clan. But Buffy, the smallest of them in body, had the largest wings and was thus the fastest and most maneuverable of them all in the sky. And Giles was the opposite.

He landed as quietly as he could. Then listened.

"Thank you all for your time tonight. I'm very sorry that we didn't catch whoever was doing this. But trust me when I say we _will_ find who's committing these heinous crimes and bring them to justice." Someone was finishing an inspirational speech. Empty political promises.

"They don't have him," Buffy whispered excitedly and took off back in the direction of Weatherly Park. Not long after they were all in the air, she pointed. "What the heck is that?"

Giles' gaze followed where she was pointing, and it looked like nothing so much as a giant praying mantis. And it was flying! He looked and realized that its intended prey looked very gargoyle like.

"Xander!" three girls yelled at once.

* * *

Xander banked hard and flapped just before the mantis reached him. The monster went flying by. _God, she was fast._ Not as maneuverable as he was, though; insect wings had one shape and one shape only. Gargoyle wings were bat-like and could be reshaped in an instant, and it made them extremely maneuverable, though not quite as efficient as bird wings. And the maneuverability his wings gave him was the only reason he wasn't being eaten at this moment. She looped around and dove back at him and he twisted the other way this time. He knew he couldn't keep this up long. Noticing just how far she overshot him, he formed a simple plan to let her overshoot again and then dive to the ground and let her crash into the asphalt when she overshot him the last time.

Too bad she didn't want to cooperate with that plan. She flew up so she was nearly level this time and started her attack run from there. Xander was, by that time, plenty far away, giving him enough room to maneuver. He just didn't know what to do. He wasn't sure if he was hearing things or if the thought just struck him, but the words 'Top Gun' suddenly popped into his head. He pulled up hard, lifting him up sharply, though all but stopping his forward momentum. Then he folded his wings back so he was falling right onto the mantis. He was going for her head, which looked like it would be easy to pop off, but she ducked. As she went by, he lashed out with his arms and his legs. His arms went through her wings like they were papier-mâché but couldn't hold onto the fragile things and only tore some tracks through them. His hind claws, not used to being used that way, caught nothing, but after tearing through all four of the wings, Xander's front talons deeply scratched her thorax as she passed. He watched as the mantis started losing height as her damaged wings were unable to provide the lift they once had. Xander felt gravity taking over then and snapped his wings open so he could glide down to meet her on the ground. With her already injured, he felt he could swoop in from behind her and maybe take her head off. He was very surprised when he saw Buffy land on the thing's back and tear its wings right of its body like some horrible child torturing giant insects on her lawn.

Xander was moving pretty slowly, his Top Gun move having cost him most of his momentum. He watched as Willow and Amy joined Buffy in the air while he let gravity help him build speed so he could meet the monster on the ground. Giles got there first, though, and was already engaging it with Buffy's javelins, keeping its massive forelimbs busy with both hands. Xander was impressed by the older guy's speed and ferocity. There were obviously hidden depths to this watcher guy and Xander made plans to get more training soonest.

For now, he hit the ground running on all fours. Reaching the battle, Xander took one of the creature's rear legs and pulled so hard that it came off. He staggered at the unexpected result. He had been hoping for a distraction, but that worked too. He tossed away the still-twitching limb.

The girls obviously thought it looked like a good idea as they all landed nearby, grabbed a limb, and pulled as well. Giles took advantage of the distraction and plunged a javelin into the mantis' chest. But it didn't die from that. Instead that only seemed to tick it off. It knocked Giles away and all three girls also came away with rear legs shortly after that.

Then there was just the body and the forelegs flailing wildly.

"Anyone wanna try beheading?" Buffy asked. "That usually seems to work."

"I'll get one arm if you get the other," Xander offered Giles who nodded.

They both rushed in and caught one of the super-strong forelimbs while Buffy jumped atop the monster's back and pulled off its head. Except for some quivering, that was the end of the giant mantis lady.

"Whew. Good timing guys," Xander said to the rest of the clan.

"Good ears, Xander. I was surprised you could hear me yelling for you to pull that Top Gun move," Willow beamed.

"I didn't even know I heard it myself. Must have just barely heard it. Like one of those subdermal things."

"Subliminal," Giles corrected automatically. "And I believe we should discuss this in the air, before the authorities arrive."

* * *

Once they were airborne, Buffy had to ask what happened. Xander spelled out the fight with the one-armed vamp and the vamp being scared of a woman walking home with her groceries. How he'd followed her, hoping for an ally, but had instead been drugged and caged. His heroic escape, saving Blayne (he assured Giles that he hadn't spilled the beans about being a gargoyle), and then fleeing in a very manly and not at all cowardly way. Giles had the group go back to Mantis-lady's house to look for more of her kind. They didn't find any, except for some eggs, which Buffy collected to carry back to their camp. After all that, Xander had earned his rest and the rear spot in the formation where he got to draft off of all the others in the flight. He was really looking forward to a nice day of stone rest after that.

* * *

Buffy handed off the bag of eggs to Giles as the three women peeled off when they entered the bounds of the National Forest they called home while Giles and Xander made for the camp. Xander curled up in their 'bed' area as soon as he touched down. Until Giles prodded him with his foot.

"Get up. Time to train," he said.

Xander just groaned. He wanted more training, just not _now_. He told Giles so.

"We are neither of us going to be able to match the girls in the air. Their wing area to weight ratio is far better than either of ours will ever be. Therefore, it behooves us to focus our training on being the ones that attack on the ground," Giles said.

"Tomorrow please?" Xander begged. "I'm really sore right now."

But Giles wouldn't budge. "Learning to fight while tired and/or injured is only one of the lessons you must learn. Now up and at them or I shall attack you where you lay."

Xander was pretty sure that Giles was mostly joking, but it wouldn't pay to test that, so he reluctantly got to his feet and trained with him for several hours while they waited for the women to return from the hunt.

* * *

"Sorry we were so late." Buffy said as they landed. "The first deer we got was small and the three of us kinda demolished it. So we found this little piggy instead. Not the friendliest of creatures, let me tell you."

Xander opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it.

Giles didn't hold back what he was going to say. "This is not a 'piggy', Buffy. It's a wild boar. A rather dangerous animal if you recall my earlier lecture."

"Sure. But it's not like he could get to us while we were flying over him. Totally safe," Buffy countered playfully.

"Totally," Willow nodded.

"Very well. So long as you were careful. They are considered a dangerous invasive species and any game warden would be likely to thank you for killing it." He paused. "I was about to tell you to avoid handling the raw meat when I remembered our new forms. Still, I would prefer if we could cook the meat anyway."

"Xander, what happened?" Willow noticed Xander's condition after several more hours of training.

"Training happened," Giles said. "And it's also going to happen to the three of you while Xander gets our meal roasting. Spread out, all of you."

Xander didn't even get out of the group training. Once the meat was going, he got a break every 15 minutes to rotate the food and make sure it cooked evenly. He was one tired gargoyle by the time the food was ready. He didn't think he'd even have the strength to eat, but somehow found the reserves to do so when no one volunteered to hand-feed him.

* * *

Sunset greeted them and they woke feeling greatly refreshed. For the first time since their transformation, everyone got to have breakfast before they went flying. Scrambled giant mantis eggs and leftover ham both kept cool and protected during the day in the shade under Buffy's wing while it was stone.

"Right. Everyone follow me to my flat. We'll meet Joyce there and start moving all my books from my place to her basement," Giles said when they were finished.

Meeting there, Giles let them all in and started piling all his books together for the others to carry. Joyce's minivan was very nice to have, as it had exceptional storage capacity once the rear seats were removed, which was quite easy when you had gargoyle strength. Each of the children got to carry one of the rather heavy seats back to the Summers' home where they then helped unload the books as well. Then it was off to the school library again where they removed all the occult books that Giles had brought and several more that he hadn't brought but didn't think needed to be in a public high school library. This time, at least, the children didn't have to carry the heavy seats back with them. After unloading the van a second time and returning Joyce's seats to their full and upright locked positions, it was time for a little late lunch/dinner.

"Thank you for allowing us to use your home as a storage facility, Joyce," Giles said as they ate.

"Oh, I'm happy to do it. Especially if it means you guys spending more time here," Joyce smiled back sadly.

"Yes-yes, I do believe that we will have need to use them on a fairly regular basis," Giles assured her. "Now then, I believe it is Amy's turn to come with me. The three of you are patrolling then?"

They nodded. Buffy had had a bit of mother/daughter night last night and wasn't looking to overdose too soon. And neither Xander nor Willow were looking for a break just yet. Though they thought it would be a good idea sooner or later.

* * *

By the time Giles actually got some 1-on-1 time with her, Amy had already developed her own style of fighting thanks to gargoyle strength/instincts, the group training from Giles, and patrolling with Buffy. Instead of being a brawler like Xander and Buffy, or just plunging and moving on like Willow did and Giles tried to do, she was a counter-puncher. She'd wait for the vampire to attack first and then counter attack. With a stake if there was an opening, or with her fists if there wasn't. So while her fights took rather too long, much like Buffy's, she expended far less energy and took less damage than the former Slayer.

She was also very good at maneuvering her opponents when she faced groups so that only one vampire could attack her at a time. So while she didn't use her tail much, she made sure she didn't need to.

He gave her a few pointers, like trying for the kill earlier in each fight and trying to use her tail more. But then everyone but Xander seemed to forget about that appendage in a fight, including himself. And after that, it was up to training and getting real world experience fighting that would make them all better fighters. The good thing about being gargoyles was that they'd likely actually survive getting that initial experience whereas most humans would not.

* * *

After checking in with the other team and leaving Amy with them, it was time for Giles' other chore of the evening; contacting the watchers council. He had several reasons for procrastinating this long. Admitting defeat in that they were likely permanently transformed was one of them. Also, there had just been too much to do. Leaving the kids alone to make this call by himself had been too risky for their delicate psyches before now. Besides which, the council would likely take the same action whether or not he called yesterday, today, or in a week.

He flew back to his mostly empty flat and used the phone very carefully. Accidental gargoyle strength had cost Joyce the remote controls for her TV and VCR already, along with several keyboards at the school. The other side connected.

"Hello?"

"Yes, this is Rupert Giles. With whom am I speaking?"

"Dr. Giles!" the other person exclaimed.

"No, _I'm_ Dr. Giles, and you are?"

"Oh, Penelope Clearwater. We thought you were dead. Another Slayer was called and you didn't return our calls."

Giles nodded, not that she could see that. A watcher going down with his Slayer was not uncommon, though they were trained to avoid something like that. "I see. I'm afraid that means that we really were both dead for a bit. And after that, we both had to go into hiding. However, we're both alive and breathing again, though I'm afraid we'll have to remain in hiding for now."

"I see."

"The other Slayer. She's on her way here now, I take it?"

"Oh, um, yes sir," It was clear that Clearwater was fairly new and wasn't sure what she was and was not supposed to tell him. "To make sure the two of you weren't made into vampires. You, weren't, were you?"

"No. Though if I were, I suppose I would probably answer the same way." He paused for a minute and took a deep breath. "I guess I ought to warn you that, though we are not vampires, we _have_ been transformed by magic such that we can no longer simply walk about in broad daylight." That was true enough, and as much as the council needed to know.

"Oh. Oo-oh."

"We retain our human minds and the drive to destroy vampires and demons, however. So be a dear and do give the new Slayer a heads up that not all that looks evil is necessarily so. I shall warn Buffy that the new Slayer is coming. I'll call back later tonight."

"I'll inform Mr. Travers."

Giles hung up. That could have gone better. Then again, he knew the council wasn't big on cooperating with outsiders. Still, they weren't exactly outsiders, even if their form had changed.

* * *

A/N: Don't own Top Gun. Also Penelope Clearwater is not the girl from Harry Potter. Just liked the name for an English woman. I actually wrote the name first, then had to Google the name because I couldn't figure out why that name seemed familiar.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Thank you to my Beta, deiticlast for his help with this. The earliest chapters had some fairly egregious paragraphs. Rereading from the beginning might be good as the first chapters are now much better than the first time around.

Chapter 11.

Giles flew up and up from his old flat while circling around in the rising air currents left over from the sun warming the asphalt during the day. It didn't do to think about the flat as his anymore. He wouldn't be paying the rent on it any more, in any case. He'd already transferred all the money in his accounts to an account in the Cayman Islands. A place that would hopefully be safe from both his creditors and from the council, who would no doubt stop paying him his meager salary and would seek to take back what they viewed as their own, if they could.

Reaching a good altitude, he started circling in a wider arc as he scanned for the others. He wasn't actually sure if they were in two groups or in one big one. After a couple of minutes, it was clear that they were not in the air. They must have all been on the ground fighting something or chasing something. He continued to circle, waiting for someone to notice him and join him in the air.

Another ten minutes and Giles was losing his patience. What if someone was injured (again)? They really only had two fallback spots now; the campsite and Joyce's house. What if one or both of those spots became compromised? It was clear he needed to plan for some contingencies and also devise a method of communication that would not draw more attention to themselves.

Finally, two figures launched off of a house and started heading in his direction. He glided down to join Xander and Amy. Xander was again sporting numerous small cuts and bruises.

"Have you seen Buffy and Willow?" Giles asked.

Xander pointed towards the west. "They went thataway."

Giles looked in that direction and sighed. No one was in the air over there. "Very well, you two with me." He led them downtown. "I need one of you to stay aloft to signal Buffy and Willow if and when they take flight again."

Amy raised her hand. Giles nodded and Xander followed him down until they landed on the roof of a sporting goods store. They hopped down to the alley behind the store and Giles pulled out his set of lockpicks to work on the back door.

"Cool. We're going to rob the sporting goods store?" Xander asked a little too excitedly.

"Yes. Please stay calm and follow me. Keep a lookout," Giles ordered. He picked the lock on the backdoor and shorted out the security system. "That should buy us 20 minutes or so." Probably more than that, he estimated, but he wanted to be conservative and not get caught. It also shorted out the cameras attached to the system so no one would know who or what had robbed the place.

First on Giles' list was radios for the entire team. When he got to the display, he also picked up some throat-mics and ear buds for each of them. They probably would have been too expensive if he hadn't been getting the four-talon discount, but throat mics were almost a necessity, considering how much they'd cut down on wind noise. Without them, the radios would be very hard to use while flying. He also grabbed plenty of rechargeable batteries and a solar charger. He smiled at the thought of batteries that recharged even as they themselves did.

Next, he checked out the hunting section. He liked the children's ideas and initiative in making and testing their own weapons against vampires. But to his mind, the classics were classics for a reason. He only took four crossbows because that was all the store had. Combined with the one now stored at the Summers' house and he would have enough for everyone to have one. The bolts for the crossbows were a different matter. He took the small selection of wooden bolts and left the aluminum and carbon fiber ones. He also took a large stock of arrow/bolt making supplies. Then he went to find Xander to carry all of this for him.

He found the boy in the diving area, looking at a display.

"Why don't we have something like that?" Xander asked, waving at the display of the Shark Suit. It showed a short clip of a woman in a dive suit being bitten repeatedly by smallish sharks and suffering no harm from it.

Giles looked at the Shark Suit. It was essentially just a mail (he refused to call it 'chainmail') suit plus a helmet big enough to house the necessary scuba gear. "Would that we could," he said wistfully. "Unfortunately one cannot simply walk down the street wearing one of those. It would draw too much attention and that would-"

"I know that," Xander interrupted. "But why can't _we_ wear something like that?"

Giles opened his mouth to repeat himself, but stopped. It wasn't like wearing armor would make them stand out any more. They were already giant monsters. He looked at the bruised and battered Xander before he reached out and touched the display. "Well, we're not wearing this one because it's plastic. But you have a good point." He handed Xander the spoils of their thieving. "I know some people who might be able to make something like that for us. But we'll talk about it back at camp."

Giles gave the bag of loot to Xander before they launched themselves back into the sky, Xander's larger wings were better able to get him into the air with the added weight. They met up with Amy, who had flown off and brought back Buffy and Willow. Then the whole group headed for camp.

* * *

"Who's here?" Angel asked as he entered his apartment. Something was off.

"A friend," Darla said demurely as she stepped forward into the moonlight wearing a catholic schoolgirl outfit. "Hi. It's been a while."

"A lifetime."

"Or two, but who's counting?" Darla shrugged.

Angel smirked, "What's with the Catholic schoolgirl look? Last time I saw you it was kimonos."

Darla smirked back, "And last time I saw you it wasn't high school girls." She put a finger to the side of her face as if she were thinking, "But then again, word on the street is that she's not exactly a high school girl any more, is she? She's a monster, just like you and me."

"I'm not a monster anymore," Angel insisted.

"No? It sure looked like your M.O. from where I was watching. A little flirting, a coy smile, look like you're about to cry when you can't talk about your tortured past. Please. You haven't changed. Now you're just trying to get in their pants instead of draining them dry, but deep down you're still the same monster I made all those years ago. You can only suppress your real nature for so long. You can feel it brewing inside of you. I hope I'm around when it explodes."

Angel grabbed her and slammed her up against the wall. "Maybe you don't wanna be," he growled.

Darla just laughed, "I'm not afraid of you. And your seduction obviously failed. You know where to find me when you want to rejoin your true family," she told him coyly, leaving Angel alone to contemplate all she'd said.

* * *

Everyone liked the crossbows and radios when they were handed out. "Death from above!" Buffy called out as she accepted hers.

"I'm glad all of you like them. There was another thing that Xander made me think of. We can't hunt everywhere with the crossbows. Many of the cemeteries and other traditional haunts of vampires are shaded by trees or some such. Now, traditionally, Slayers do not wear armor. Especially in recent centuries, as it would make them stand out too much and the increased scrutiny would be risky. But seeing as we are already not going to be associating with many humans, armor could be a good idea. The downside will be extra weight, which will be most noticeable when we're flying."

"No helmet for me," Buffy immediately said. "I am _so _not having helmet-hair."

"Is everyone else agreed about the armor?" Giles asked and received nods all around. "Very well. Tomorrow I'll ask Joyce to order the armor from a friend of mine, including helmets for all." He cut off Buffy's objections. "Whether you wear them or not will be between you and your mother."

Buffy's face fell. No fair! There was no way she was winning that argument.

Giles hid his smile at that. "Moving on. Joyce and I discussed it and we've decided that she will dust off her chisels and will be carving the gargoyles that will be placed around the city to act as decoys for us. We've also had several other ideas, including moving each of them around the city each night, just like we eventually will be, and modeling the statues after us. So, we'll each need to pose for a sitting with Joyce where she'll take many pictures of each of us to use while she's working on the sculptures. She'll also need our help to move the stones she's having delivered in the next couple of days."

Groans went up at that. Gargoyles or not, they were still teenagers and didn't much care for work.

"Wonderful. All of you, off to hunt now. Call me if you have any trouble, but _do_ try to have one hunt where you do not have a life and death disaster."

* * *

Hunting with crossbows from the sky was so easy it was probably cheating. Okay, it really was cheating. Xander figured there were probably laws against hunting while flying, but then again, it wasn't like they could just walk into a grocery store and buy the food they needed. Xander also figured that being a guy would give him an automatic bonus towards hunting skills. He figured wrong. In fact, of the four of them, he was the only one that missed his target, which was embarrassing.

But the girls didn't tease him about it. They just sent him to collect Willow's deer, which had run off, while Amy oversaw the two girls as they field dressed the other two.

He came back with the deer to find that one of the does was field dressed and hanging from a tree and the other was gone. Well, mostly gone. It looked like one of those lion kills on National Geographic. Just bones with a little meat hanging off. And three female gargoyles looking slightly embarrassed to have eaten an entire deer themselves.

"Hey Xander," Buffy said nonchalantly as he landed with the deer.

"Let me help you with that," Willow said, taking her deer from him.

"It's your kill," he told her. "I figured you'd want the heart."

Willow couldn't help but lick her chops at the thought, despite the fact that she'd just eaten a third of a small doe.

The bonus to Xander that Willow was still so hungry was that he didn't have to field dress her kill. After the two uneaten kills were dressed and drained, they took off. There was no more of the sharing of a deer between two gargoyles nonsense. All of them now knew they were more than capable of carrying that much weight and then some. Xander carried one deer himself just to make sure that one made it back to camp.

Giles set about cooking one of the deer. Before it was even half done, all the girls' mouths were watering.

"Okay, that's just getting ridiculous," Xander finally said.

"What is?" Giles asked.

"Their appetite," Xander waved his hand at the salivating girls.

"Well- well gargoyle metabolisms are different than-"

"I eat more than I did before too. But we took down three deer tonight."

"Three? Where's the other one?" Giles looked around to make sure he hadn't missed it.

"They already ate it," Xander said.

"We were hungry," Buffy defended.

"I'm not saying you weren't. I'm just saying something's going on and I just want to find out what. 'Cause I didn't get a bite of the other deer and you guys are already hungry again," Xander said.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds.

"Am I going to get fat?" Buffy broke the silence. "Giles, you have to tell me. Because I don't have any fat-clothes ready."

"I- I- I- don't know, Buffy. I'm afraid a bit of research will be necessary," Giles temporized.

"Giles, come on. You've been researching gargoyles nonstop. You have to have some idea. So spill," Buffy ordered.

Giles reached up to take his glasses off to polish them, but realized again that he no longer had them. He fervently wished he still had glasses to polish so he had an excuse not to meet Buffy's eyes at that moment. Instead, he looked at the stars. "I had rather hoped we'd missed this particular adventure for a bit. You are, all three of you, taking in a good deal more food than you might otherwise?" he waited for the three women to nod. "I'll have to check my books again, but there's a good chance that you are going into heat," he said as he looked off into the night sky again.

"What?"

"Please tell me you're joking."

"Ohmygod! The nest!"

"Nest? What nest?" Giles broke into the cacophony of sound.

Willow blushed under her green skin. "Um, the other day when we were hunting that wild boar. We came across some caves."

"The Chumash Caves," Amy added.

"And we thought it would be fun to make a nest in there. You know, as a backup place to sleep. Except it wouldn't be big enough for more than one or two of us," Willow finished.

Giles sighed. "I'm afraid the nesting instinct probably confirms it, but I'll double-check my books."

"Oh, my god," Willow said. "I'm going to have- I'm going to have- What am I going to have? What are baby gargoyles called?"

"Hatchlings, I believe. Or just babies. And it's not a given that you will lay an egg your first time around. You can also-"

"Eggs! We lay eggs?" Buffy cried before she fainted.

* * *

A/N: Check the series info (on Twisting the Hellmouth) for more information on gargoyle reproduction which should no longer be spoilers. And there really are Chumash Caves in the Los Padres National Forest.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Finally, we get to part of the reason for the title.

Chapter 12.

"_Eggs! We lay eggs?" Buffy cried before she fainted._

Buffy did wake up before sunrise and ate voraciously, if not enthusiastically. The revelation that she was so hungry because her body was getting ready to lay an egg was a lot to take in. On the plus side, she'd never have to deal with another period. Just get the urge to... well... and then lay an egg every ten years, according to Giles. The only trouble was that there were pretty much only two men/gargoyles in the world as far as she was concerned. One was Xander and one was Giles. One was a friend she didn't think of in that way, and the other was... old. For now, her plan was to keep her fingers and legs crossed and hope that nothing happened.

Luckily, she had work to do to take her mind off the future. Giles had given her the job of designing them some armor to wear while patrolling, since she was the fashion aficionado of the group. She set to work drawing and taking measurements.

Just before sunrise, Giles remembered the other news he had to share. The new Slayer had been called and was already on her way to Sunnydale. She was Jamaican and should be arriving in the next few days.

* * *

That day, the girls slept apart from the men. There was a strain in their relationship now that neither side knew how to fix. It was a quiet flight to town the next evening, despite the new radios they were all wearing.

"Right, Buffy," Giles finally broke the silence by speaking into his radio. "I realize it's your turn to patrol with me. But I think tonight perhaps you might get more benefit from a night in with your mother? All three of you girls take the night off, in fact. Xander and I will patrol together and call you if we need help."

Buffy looked back and nodded.

When they landed, Giles handed Joyce the contact information for a man he knew who could make them some armor and the measurements and designs for said armor. Along with some cash he'd gotten out of the ATM for a down payment. He gave her a brief explanation of the trouble tonight before taking off to join Xander, who hadn't even landed.

"Coward," Giles said as he formed up off Xander's wing. Giles was technically the leader, but his shorter wings meant he had to ride in the back of the formation more often than the others.

"Damn skippy," Xander agreed. "There is no way you could make me face Mrs. Summers right now."

"Is your radio off?" Giles asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, it may be crass—especially to bring this up so soon—but we need to discuss logistics. Privately."

"Logistics?" Xander wondered.

"So that there aren't any... misunderstandings with the girls."

"What are you saying?" Xander asked rather darkly. "Are you trying to divvy up the girls between us?"

"Thank you for being as vulgar as possible, Xander. What I am saying is that despite how the girls currently feel about us or about the situation, in less than six months, their bodies are going to be flooded with hormones that override all reason and cause them to seek out a mate. It is also likely that they are going to be putting out pheromones to override our own faculties and, despite what you or I might think now, nature is very hard to control in such situations," Giles explained. "What I am trying to avoid is any sort of shame or embarrassment that any of us might feel after the hormones wear off."

"And what's that mean in American?"

Giles sighed that he had to spell things out like this. "When the time comes, I want you to sleep with Buffy. I'm sure it won't be a chore for you."

Xander found himself with a wracking cough and lost several feet of altitude. "How did you-"

"The same reason it would be wrong of me to... mate with her. I am, or was, her watcher, and was in a position of authority over her... theoretically speaking at least. Which also meant I paid attention to her and her friends. You are a young man, completely infatuated with her. And you are hardly subtle. Willow's own infatuation with you is the picture of stealth by comparison," Giles said.

Xander sputtered and lost several more feet of height, "Willow? Me? No. No, no, no, no. She—she's Willow. She's like my sister."

"I take it that mating with her would damage your psyche in some way?" Giles questioned.

"Yeah. But, would it be better if she was with you? I mean, you are kind of, old...er," Xander wondered.

"Gargoyles reach sexual maturity at the age of 30. I'm not sure what exactly the age of consent is in California as I didn't think it would affect me, but I'm certain we won't be breaking any laws in any case. Nor do I think that Willow will be horribly upset afterwards."

"Wait, what?"

"I believe Willow has developed a small crush on me as well. Certainly nothing I would act on were she still a student, but in this case..."

"I really didn't need to know that," Xander said then pointed. "I'm going to go beat up on this vampire down here and get some horrible images out of my head."

* * *

"Please, please! I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Just stake me, please!" the vampire begged when Xander paused in his thrashing.

"What do I want to know about?" Xander hissed, pulling the battered face to within inches of his own. He'd been pounding on the vamp for a good five minutes as a form of stress relief.

"The Anointed One," the vampire gasped. He didn't need to breathe except to talk. But every bone in his body felt like it was broken, including all of his ribs and his jaw. "The Master has called the Brethren of Aurelius to find him."

"The Brethren of Aurelius?" Giles chimed in from the mausoleum where he'd been watching the scene. He didn't completely approve of Xander's coping mechanism, but venting on vampires was better than venting elsewhere. He glided down to stand next to Xander.

"Yeah," the vamp tried to nod. "Called them yesterday, I think. They should be here in a few days. But that's just what I heard. I could be wrong. Now, please, a little mercy?"

Giles staked the vamp and turned to Xander. "I trust you are feeling a bit better after that? I also hope that taking your anger out on sentient creatures, even vampires, doesn't become a habit."

Xander balked at those words. The last thing in the world he wanted was to become like Tony Harris. He looked at the vampire blood on his hands and fell to his knees, "Oh, god." He started dry heaving.

"There, there," Giles patted his shoulder. "It was too much for you. I understand. I rather wish we didn't have to deal with the mating cycle of gargoyles so soon after being transformed, or if you had simply been slightly less astute and let things progress a bit more while we all settled in. This shock layered upon the shock of our recent change just doesn't seem quite fair. But I suppose they wouldn't call it a curse if it were supposed to be fair."

"I don't know if I can do this," Xander admitted.

"The, ah, mating ritual?" Giles confirmed. "You have nearly six months before they go into 'heat' in which to woo them first, if you wish," he pointed out.

* * *

"... we get fat enough to be pregnant, which we nearly are by that point, then apparently we get so horny that we just can't help ourselves, then we lay an egg. An egg!" Buffy finished her tirade.

"In a nest we already built. Though we didn't know why at the time," Amy added. "We just kind of felt like building it."

"We should destroy that nest," Buffy thought suddenly.

"We are _not _destroying my nest," Willow got in Buffy's face very aggressively. It was either the hormones or she really liked that nest.

Joyce placed a calming hand on Buffy and Willow's shoulders. "I always wanted grandchildren. And I understand you didn't expect your biological clock to start ticking so suddenly-"

"I never thought it would start ticking at all," Buffy admitted sadly. "I was the Slayer, Mom, remember? I know Giles kinda glossed over the fact, but it's pretty much a death sentence. A year, maybe two, tops. Which is about how long I lasted."

"What?" Joyce asked worriedly.

"We died," Buffy said sadly.

"Uh, my mom-" Amy started.

"Turned us to stone," Willow finished.

"But you're gargoyles. You're still alive then, right?" Joyce wondered.

"Not enough. Or Giles has a theory that because we're completely stone when we sleep, the... whatever that chooses the next Slayer counted me as dead. Either way, a new Slayer got called. She's on her way here already," Buffy explained.

Suddenly, Buffy was the one comforting her mother instead of the other way around.

"Buffy, please don't be mad at me that I'm really looking forward to being a grandmother," Joyce said. She was looking forward to it for a new reason as well: she sincerely hoped that having a child would make Buffy that much more careful as she patrolled each night. She wasn't sure if that was a selfish reason or not, wanting her daughter to be safe.

"I'm not mad, Mom. Definitely not at you. I'm just miffed that I don't seem to be given a choice on anything that happens to me right now. I mean, I was the Slayer. Sure, I had a destiny to fight evil, but I was in charge of that destiny. Kinda/sorta. Now...?" she left unsaid what she thought of recent events.

The heavy 'wump, wump, wump' sound of large wings back winging alerted them that the menfolk had returned.

Willow opened the door before they were even able to knock.

"Ah, wonderful. Willow, I wished to talk with you. Would you care to step outside?" Giles said from the doorway.

Willow shrugged but followed him out. On her way out she passed by Xander and thought he smelled especially good; like fresh-picked flowers. She and Giles walked down the sidewalk in silence for a bit.

* * *

Xander walked through the door then placed his hands behind his back. From the folds of his wings he produced two bouquets of mixed jasmine and moonflowers. Then he frowned. He'd forgotten about Joyce. He held one bouquet with his tail while he pulled a flower from each bouquet and handed them to Joyce first. He then handed Buffy her bouquet and finally 'handed' Amy hers with his tail.

Joyce stood up. "I'll just go put mine in water and ready some vases for yours when you're done," she said before she left them alone.

Xander started with Buffy, luckily it had been a slow night and he had had time to go over what he would say while he and Giles flew. "Buffy, I don't know if you've realized it yet, but apparently, it's an open secret that I've been infatuated with you since I first met you. And I'd like to point out that that was wa-ay before I found out just how incredibly brave you were to go out fighting monsters every night. I never thought I'd ever meet an actual superhero. And if the cost to meet you and fight by your side is my humanity, then I pay it gladly. But I want you to know, that to the best of my power, nothing will happen between us if you don't okay it beforehand. I want this to be completely consensual without either of us being able to blame it on our hormones. So if that means that I have to fly away for a couple of weeks, then so be it: I will."

Buffy took a deep breath of her flowers before she answered. "According to Giles, if you flew away, I'd probably just track you down. But this means a lot to me. I'm not promising anything. But I'll keep an open mind for now. But what about Willow?"

"Willow is like a sister to me. And I don't care how many pheromones, hormones, or whatever-moans- Okay, that sounded dirty. Anyway, the point is I don't think I could do _that_ with Willow because my brain literally thinks of her as my sister. Giles had a fancy name for it. West-something."

"What about me?" Amy asked. "Do you think of me as a sister? You've known me almost as long as Willow."

"Strangely, no," Xander shrugged. "We met two years after I knew Willow. I didn't think of you that way before all this happened, but we do have a solid foundation of friendship I think we can work on. I don't have a romantic speech for you, sorry. But the same offer goes for you. If it's not completely consensual, I don't want any part of it."

"So, what about tonight then?" Amy asked.

"Tonight, what?" Xander replied, confused.

"Xander. I've gotten to see you fight quite a bit now too. And all that stuff you said to Buffy about going out and fighting monsters, that all applies to you too. Plus probably the only good thing my mom did for me was give me a pragmatic view of sex. So, what about tonight? It's not like we have to worry about getting pregnant. Well, not tonight anyway," Amy smirked. "And practice makes perfect."

Xander could only make a few unintelligible noises. Buffy also made a small squeaking sound.

Joyce came out of the kitchen where she certainly hadn't been listening. She set two vases on her coffee table and put a bouquet in each. "Buffy, why don't you and I go for a walk? I should be safe enough with a gargoyle to protect me. Oh, and Amy, if you want to lay down for a minute and rest, there's a spare room upstairs you can use."

Amy smiled at Buffy's mom. That was a very kind offer. "Thank you, Joyce. I think I will lay down for a few minutes." She grabbed Xander's hand and led him upstairs.

Joyce did the same thing for her daughter.

Once they were outside, Buffy's brain reengaged and started working again. "Mom! I can't believe you just did that."

Joyce just laughed. "Honey, if I knew I didn't have to worry about you getting a disease or getting pregnant, you would have gotten a very different sex talk when you reached puberty. More 'it's fun but make sure he loves you' and less 'don't ever, ever do it'. And Xander loves you. And I don't think he'd do anything to hurt Amy either. Plus, you've already told me that he saved your life."

"_Xander—_is currently indisposed. A point you made sure of," Buffy retorted.

"Then make sure your time with him is more memorable than hers. I'm just being practical here, honey. Your choice of men in your life is extremely limited now. Don't push Xander away just because he's not perfect or you blame him for something neither of you has any control over," Joyce said as she pulled her daughter into a hug.

Buffy was silent for a bit. "Do you want to go flying, Mom?" Buffy asked. She didn't wait for an actual reply, just scooped her up, leaped to the chimney of a neighbor's house, and took off.

* * *

Giles was having a very different night than Xander. He was hugging a distraught and sobbing Willow after telling her that Xander didn't and couldn't feel _that_ way about her. He had picked her up and moved them both off the sidewalk and into the shadows in case anyone came by. He also wrapped them both in a near cocoon using his wings. Inside, Willow had darkness and warmth as well as the strength of his arms and his love. Giles understood the Westermarck Effect, the phenomenon where two children raised together never develop sexual urges for each other, but what he couldn't understand was how one child could exhibit classic symptoms while Willow clearly wasn't affected in the slightest. Perhaps it was simply the Hellmouth at work once again.

Despite what he had assured Xander earlier, he absolutely had many qualms about what would happen in the coming months. However, it simply wouldn't do to express those concerns to the young adults who were already unsure enough. Being the calm voice of reason and accepting that this had to happen because it was going to happen whether they wanted it to or not would save them a great deal of worry and guilt later. Everyone but him of course. But he was the leader. Worry and guilt came with the job. As did soggy shirts, apparently.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I should mention the title of this story; most of my longer stories had someone die in chapter 13. This may be the first time I've reached chapter 13 and didn't kill someone off.

* * *

No One Dies in _Chapter 13_.

* * *

"Thank you for taking me flying with you, Buffy," Joyce said as they landed. "Next time, let me grab a jacket first. It's chilly up there."

"Sorry, I never noticed," Buffy replied.

Xander and Amy joined them on the front lawn. Both of them looked a bit smug, but Xander at least had the decency to look slightly abashed as well.

"It's getting late," Amy observed. "We should get going if we're going to get any hunting done. Should we call Mr. Giles?"

"There's no need," Giles said as he and Willow approached on the sidewalk. "Shall we?"

* * *

On the way out of Sunnydale, Buffy used her crossbow to nail a vampire that was feeding on a dog. By the time the gargoyles got to him, the dog was already dead. It had no collar.

"I suppose we should take it back to camp with us," Giles observed.

"Why?" Willow asked, confused.

"Well, to eat of course."

"Giles, it's a dog!" Buffy objected.

"Many cultures consider dog meat to be a great delicacy," Giles countered. "And it is meat that we did not have to hunt. In point of fact, five gargoyles can put rather a strain on any area's wildlife. Especially now. This just means we'll have to hunt less tonight," he said as he picked up the carcass. "Anyone who doesn't wish to eat this does not have to. But I'll have it cooked and ready when you get back." With that, he took off. On his own he was no match for the group's speed, however, and he fell in line when they passed him, but peeled off when they neared camp while the others kept going.

* * *

Willow caught Xander's eye and turned. Xander sighed, not really wanting to have this conversation but followed anyway, leaving Amy and Buffy flying together.

When you talk, sound moves out from your mouth at roughly a constant speed – the speed of sound. It doesn't matter how fast you're moving at the time, sound will only travel so fast. If you happen to be flying through the air with a group of gargoyles, sound seems to travel backwards. Which isn't what's happening, actually you're just traveling through the sound waves. Which is why it's much, much easier for everyone to hear the person in front than the person in back. To combat this, when they weren't using the radios for whatever reason, the person who was in front would say what they have to say and then pull up – moving themselves up and to the rear of the group to hear what the next person said, unless it was a very short conversation.

"So, what was it like?" Buffy asked before pulling up and moving behind Amy to hear the response.

"Sex with Xander or sex as a gargoyle?" Amy asked.

She just looked back for her answer, expecting Buffy to hold up 1 or 2 talons. Instead, Buffy just nodded, 'Yes'.

"Mom always said boys had more enthusiasm than skill. You had to train them to be good lovers. Which is-" she shook her head. "Anyway, Xander was _way_ better than average. I'm not sure if that was due to him or just because sex is better as a gargoyle. You know how flying just feels... good?"

Amy looked back to see Buffy nod a little too eagerly. Buffy _loved_ flying.

"Well that might be because our wings... new erogenous zones. Like getting your ears or neck nibbled on, but better. Not quite 'getting your tits sucked' good, but close."

Buffy dove to get in front of Amy, "Speaking of which," she said before pulling back up.

Amy grabbed her chest where her boobs had been until recently. "Not as good as it felt before," she gave as much of a shrug as she could while flying. "But the actual sex was so much better than as a human. Cause our tails also feel really good. And Xander, as good as he is with his tail in a fight, is even better with it in bed."

Buffy's eyes glazed over as she imagined just what Xander had done with that huge, thick appendage. She shook herself out of those thoughts and flapped a couple times to regain the height she'd lost in her daydream. Amy giggled like a school girl. Buffy was about to swoop in front of her to tell her to knock it off and/or to ask more questions but instead she noticed something below them. "Boar!" she shouted loud enough for Amy to hear despite Amy being in front of her. Amy looked down, they both readied their new crossbows.

* * *

Xander followed Willow to a reservoir. She flew low and fast over the calm water and then pulled up as they neared the dam. She alighted on a ledge on the cliffs to the right. They weren't technically cliffs, if the reservoir had been full, they would have been underwater, part of the drop-off. A very steep drop-off. But it was safe enough for those of them with wings. Well, not safe. As the ledge was rather small and put Xander rather closer to a very upset female gargoyle than he thought was healthy for his well-being. But he was a gargoyle, not a chicken, and so he landed.

They both looked out over the reservoir for a few minutes. It was late and the fishing and pleasure boats that used the water during the day and early evening were now gone. The only artificial lights were around the dam, those never turned off and attracted large numbers of nighttime insects which, in turn, attracted large numbers of bats with wings not dissimilar to their own.

Finally, Willow spoke, "Giles explained to me _why_ you can't think of me- why you can't feel for me what I feel for you."

"Will-"

"You love me. I know. Like a sister," Willow nearly sobbed at that but she swallowed it back down. "And I'd rather have you as a brother than lose you entirely. And I already thought Giles was cute and smart and funny. To be honest, I thought he was too mature and out of my league before this."

Xander really didn't want to hear about that.

But Willow didn't stop. She gave a sad chuckle, "I guess there's something good about this spell limiting our options. You get the girl of your dreams and I—I at least get my second choice."

Xander almost put a hand on her shoulder at that but stopped himself. He wasn't sure how a gesture like that would be taken right now. So instead they simply stood side by side watching the water and the bugs and the bats.

Until Buffy came over their radios, almost startling them both off their narrow ledge. "Hey guys, we bagged dinner. See you back at camp!"

"Copy that," Xander keyed. He turned to Willow, "Shall we?"

* * *

The next evening it was finally Buffy's turn to patrol with her watcher, and she was thankful for the distraction that meant she didn't have to think about 'other' things. After they finished a breakfast of leftover wild boar (the dog had been fully consumed despite any reservations) from the night before, the group took off.

Buffy had the same fighting style that Giles was afraid he remembered. She traded blows with the monster she was supposed to be slaying instead of dusting him. She even punned.

"We haven't been properly introduced," she said as she knocked the vamp to the ground. "I'm Buffy, and you're history!" she said as she finished him off.

Giles hopped up from the mausoleum he was perched on and glided to the ground while speaking. "Poor technique. Prioritizing, sub-par... Execution was adequate, but a bit too bloody for my taste."

Buffy frowned. "Giles, don't mention it. It was my _pleasure_ to make the world safe for humanity again."

"I'm not saying that your methods are without merit, it's, uh, y-"

"_I_ will say it, however," a deep voice interrupted. "I would never tolerate such sloppiness from my Slayer; but then again, that's likely the reason that you died and were transformed."

Giles turned to face the interlopers. "Sam Zabuto and Kendra the Vampire Slayer, I believe."

"We are," Sam nodded. His skin was dark, as was his suit, and his white teeth almost glowed in the moonlight. The mocha colored girl behind him stayed silent but watchful.

"Rupert Giles," Giles offered his taloned hand. It was ignored until he pulled it back. "Right. And this is Buffy Summers. Former Slayer."

"Still the Slayer. Just a new form is all," Buffy countered as she twirled a stake in her talons. It had taken three nights of practice to relearn that skill with only four talons. "And for your information, I lasted over a year, killed Lothos and stopped the Master from rising before I ran into a superwitch who did this to me. So there," Buffy blew a raspberry at the newcomers.

"Buffy-" Giles shook his head, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and looked at the ground. "Please try to be more diplo- Oh. Hello," he gingerly picked up a ring off the ground.

"Oh, that's great! I kill 'em, you fence their stuff. What is it?" Buffy quipped.

"Brethren of Aurelius. It seems they're in town already," Giles confirmed the markings on the ring belonged to them then looked at Zabuto and Kendra. "It's good you're here. You can help me research this. It seems the Master, having been foiled by Buffy, has summoned a champion of sorts. The Anointed One. I haven't found out much except that he's due to rise tomorrow night."

"That is very little to go on," Sam observed.

"Yes. But there was very little written about him," Giles countered. "Only Aurelius' own writings allowed me to find the date."

"Besides, we're already trying to find this slice-n-dice decapitator guy too," Buffy added.

At a confused look from Sam, Giles just shook his head, "I'll explain later." He remembered the first time he'd tried to translate Buffyspak into English.

"We will need to find somewhere to stay yet tonight. We've only just arrived," Sam said.

"Well, my flat has a few more weeks left on the lease. It's furnished, I have the keys, and you'd probably be able to take over the lease if you wanted," Giles offered.

Zabuto considered it briefly. They didn't exactly have any more attractive offers at the moment. And a few weeks would give them time to search for something else if it wasn't to their liking. "We accept."

"Who's this _we_?" Buffy said pointing at Kendra. "She hasn't said a word since you guys got here."

Sam looked at Giles. "You do not teach your Slayer to respect her superiors here?"

Giles grinned widely, purposely showing his elongated incisors. "I've found that Buffy is perfectly capable of determining who her superiors are without my help. Besides, it's a fair question. There's a large gap between being quietly respectful and mute."

Kendra made her first facial expression, a frown. "I am capable of speaking, sir. I simply had nothing to add to what Mr. Zabuto said."

"Aww, isn't that cute, Giles? She calls him 'Mister'."

Giles cleared his throat. "Yes, well, anyway. Could you show them to the flat—er, apartment? While you do that, I'll go get the necessary books."

"You do not have the books there?" Sam asked.

"Not any more. Once it became clear that I couldn't stay," Giles looked at his powerful, taloned hands, "I moved them into storage for safekeeping. Once you choose a permanent home, I'll be glad to help deliver all the council volumes there."

* * *

The Master was in his cave with a few other vampires gathered around. He took a book off a shelf and opened it on a lectern and started reading aloud, "'And there will be a time of crisis, of worlds hanging in the balance. And in this time shall come the Anointed, the Master's great warrior. And the Slayer will not know him, will not stop him, and he will lead her into Hell.' As it is written, so shall it be."

He picked up the book and continued to read aloud as he walked around.

"'Five will die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise. The Brethren of Aurelius shall greet him and usher him to his immortal destiny.' As it is written, so shall it be. 'And one of the brethren shall go out hunting the night before and get himself killed, because he couldn't wait to finish his job before he ate.'

"Oh, wait," he grabbed one of the vampires by the throat and lifted him into the air. "That's not written anywhere. The Anointed will be my greatest weapon against the Slayer! If you fail to bring him to me, if you allow that girl to stop you-" he threw the vampire across the room, smashing a coffin to bits, then snapped his book shut. "Here endeth the lesson."

* * *

"So, what are your hobbies?" Buffy asked the new Slayer.

"Hobbies?" Kendra queried.

"Yeah. You know. What do you do for fun?" Buffy explained with her own confused expression on her face.

"I am the Slayer," was all that Kendra said.

"So? I was the Slayer for over a year but I still took enough time to go to clubs and stuff. Shopping! What about shopping?"

Sam answered for her, "Kendra was raised by me according to the council rules."

"And do those rules say 'no fun'?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," was the unexpectedly honest reply. "Such frivolous things detract from training and her calling. As evidenced by your own premature demise."

"My _demise_ was thanks to an uber-witch we didn't know could transform us all like this. Besides which, Merrick told me the average Slayer only lasts a year or two anyway. Which I met. And you can argue am still meeting since I'm still slaying vampires."

Kendra looked over at her watcher. That tidbit had been left out of her training. "Is that true?"

Sam growled. "Merrick should not have told you that."

"I'd have snapped him like a twig if he'd held something like that back from me," Buffy said to Kendra rather than Zabuto.

Her watcher's silence was enough of an answer for Kendra. She had much to ponder tonight.

Zabuto fumed. He was sorely tempted to slay the beast directing them for her impertinence. Not an hour after arriving on the Hellmouth and it was already turning his Slayer against him. The only thing that held his hand was the three other beasts he had spotted circling silently above them. If Rupert were truly off getting those books, then that meant there were at least five of these creatures. He had no doubt that with the element of surprise on his side and his watcher training, he could take this monster. Once the other four were alerted though, he would be at a disadvantage. And his Slayer was well trained but brand new and a bit hesitant yet. She still liked the things she Slayed to make the first aggressive move. A few more months and he'd have 'strike first, strike hard' drilled into her. Taking a few hits that could have been avoided would drill it in the rest of the way. But for now, if he acted first, she would probably hesitate to attack them. He had to get them to make the first move somehow.

Rupert probably knew he was here to evaluate them and decide whether they were threats or not. What Rupert didn't know was that Sam had already decided that he and all his monsters were clear threats to the council and would be dealt with as soon as he was able. He sat down on the traitor's couch to await his return with the council's books.

* * *

Buffy was bored. She wished she didn't have to be the one helping with the research at Giles' old place just because she was the one who slew the guy who was wearing the pretty ring. She stood up, "Giles, I'm going to do some patrolling."

Giles looked up at the clock. Two hours, a new record for 'time sitting still' for Buffy. Apparently, that was a 'Buffy' feature and not a 'Slayer' feature, though Kendra was starting to shift in her seat a little bit too, he noticed. "Very well. Take Kendra with you. You could use the backup and she needs to learn the lay of the land."

"Alright," Buffy agreed without much enthusiasm. "Come on, you. Let's go show you the playground."

"She is taking her to an actual playground?" Sam asked when they were gone.

"Hmm? Oh, possibly. More likely she was simply referring to the fact that Sunnydale seems like some sort of vampire playground. Especially from the sky."

There was a quick scream from outside. Sam was at the door, machete in hand, in an instant.

"It's alright, Sam," Giles tried to reassure the man. "May I call you Sam? That was a shriek of a human on their first gargoyle flight. You should have heard Buffy's mother the first time she flew with Buffy. I could hear it three blocks away. But it's perfectly safe. You can put your weapon away now."

Sam sheathed his blade regretfully. There was nothing he could do now but be prepared if the monster came back without Kendra. In that case, they would be seconds from turning on him and he would take as many of them down with him as he could. He returned to his seat and tried to concentrate on the book he was reading.

* * *

"Oh my goodness. I have never been so cold," Kendra said through chattering teeth.

"Sorry. I need to remember to pack a blanket before I carry someone, but I keep forgetting. Plus, I suppose you're from an even warmer climate than this."

"Buffy, stop talking to her and start warming her up," Willow admonished. "Come here," she pulled Kendra into a hug and then wrapped her wings around her like the blanket Buffy forgot. After a few minutes, the chattering and shivering stopped. "Better?" Kendra nodded and Willow released her gently.

"I must remember to get some warmer clothes for patrolling here," Kendra said, rubbing her arms.

"It's the desert." Xander said. "Warm by day, cool at night. And the ocean only makes sure we don't drop below freezing too often. Can't really call it warm. Anyway, this is the Bronze," he said, waving at the building below and across the street from them.

"Pretty much the only hangout for kids around here," Buffy said.

"I do not understand," Kendra said.

"If you want to hunt predators, you have to follow their prey," Amy explained. "Vampires like chomping down on naïve kids. We try and swing by a couple times an hour to make sure no one's getting snacked on in the alley behind here. But you're human. You have the advantage of being able to go inside."

Xander smiled. "Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to go inside and see if there are any vamps hanging around. If you can't dust them quietly, then see if you can herd them out the back door."

"Where we'll be waiting," Willow finished with a toothy grin.

* * *

"Six vampires?" Buffy shook her head. "I knew we should have been coming by here more." She didn't like the way Xander fought, he kept leaping into the middle of things and getting scratched up. It kept everyone's attention on him while he did it, which made it easier for everyone else to get kills, but she still didn't like it.

"Eight," Willow said as she and Amy landed. "Two came out the front door after Kendra went in."

"Guys, we should probably-" Buffy tilted her head up at the roof to indicate that they should get up and out of sight, "before anyone else comes back here."

Xander turned to Kendra, "Do you want to climb on my back or should I carry you?"

"You are only going to the roof?" she clarified. He nodded and she jumped up, pushed off the wall, and landed on the first landing on the fire escape. "I can make me own way up, thank you." With that, she started climbing the stairs to the roof.

"Rejected!" Amy patted Xander on the back. "Don't worry, the rest of us still love you."

"Ahem," Willow cleared her throat.

"Okay, Buf-" But a look from Buffy stopped her.

"Well, I guess it's just me and you, big guy." With that Amy leapt up after the Slayer, though she skipped the fire exit stairs and just jumped from the railing to the roof of the opposite building and then back over the alley. Having wings probably gave her the confidence to make such a leap.

Xander turned to Buffy. "I thought we were-"

"We are," Buffy cut him off. "I'm just not ready to say anything like 'in love' or something like that. I need to take this slow."

"Slow. Got it." Xander held out his hand and pretended to write as he spoke, "Wait another month before bringing Buffy more flowers." He dotted his imaginary note with a flourish.

Buffy stuck out her tongue at him.

"You guys coming or what?" Amy poked her head over the side of the building before disappearing again.

* * *

A/N: I am _mostly_ not going to do Kendra's accent. I've gotten reviews that some people find it annoying and it's just easier not to.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14.

"We should do this all over town!" Willow said.

"Or at least the mall," Amy added.

"If we're going to do this more, I want Giles with us," Xander said. "So we have three in the back and two in the front."

Amy snickered at that. Willow leaned towards her and Amy whispered in her ear. A very un-gargoyle-like squeak came from Willow's lips once she got the reference.

Xander was clueless. "What? I don't get it." No one filled him in.

Buffy and Kendra stood off to one side. "Sorry," Buffy said. "They don't understand that being the Slayer is kind of a solo gig. I've had to adjust since- you know. But I had more time to adjust. They were kind of already helping even before we transformed."

"It was... very successful," Kendra said diplomatically. "I doubt I could have gotten all of them meself. Some would have gotten away."

"But you didn't get to Slay any yourself," Buffy finished, nodding. "I know. I would have been totally disappointed back when I was the Slayer. It's hard to explain. I used to have this urge to Slay. Now I just have this urge to Protect. So even if I don't get the kills, I still feel good when they're dust. But if we ask beforehand, I'm sure we can get them to save you a vamp or two from each ambush to Slay."

Kendra shook her head. "It would be like catching fish in a barrel. Too easy. I will just have to be sneakier next time and get some inside before they notice me."

"Don't you mean 'shooting fish in a barrel'?"

"Why would you shoot fish in a barrel? You would get less meat and you would probably put a hole in the barrel," Kendra said.

* * *

"Ah, they're back," Giles said as he heard the sound of large wings flapping.

Sam stood up and went to the kitchen sink. He wanted to be on his feet and with something between himself and the monsters in case it came to a fight. Also, he filled two glasses of water. His Slayer was always thirsty when she came back from patrol and he also wanted to be ready for the possibility that she was still alive and unharmed.

It was impossible to keep the smile off his face when he saw that she was indeed alive and unharmed. In relief, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. She immediately came over to him and drained one glass after another as quickly as he could refill the empty one and hand it back to her. Several exchanges later—thirst finally sated—they both joined the monsters in the living room and he received her Slaying report.

"Is that how I'm supposed to give it?" Buffy asked her watcher once the report was finished.

"Yes," he said, a smile playing over his lips. Her reports had never been that professional, but they were always much more interesting. It was one of the reasons he hadn't asked her to change.

"Kinda dry. She didn't even mention the look of terror on their faces when we dropped down on them. Or the cute guy that we saved from that total skank-ho of a vamp," Buffy said.

Giles sighed. "You're right, Buffy. Your way is far more detailed than Kendra's," he doubted she caught the sarcasm in his voice.

"Thank you," she nodded. "Wait, was that sarcasm? Do you even know what sarcasm is? Was it even invented when you were a kid?"

For the life of him, he couldn't tell if she was serious or being sarcastic herself so he just ignored her. "Mr. Zabuto and I haven't discovered much more about the Brethren of Aurelius or the Anointed One, unfortunately."

"'He will rise from the ashes of the Five on the evening of the thousandth day after the Advent of Septus.' Which is tomorrow," Sam quoted.

"Aren't you sunshine and roses," Buffy quipped. Then she turned to Giles. "So, no clearing the mall of vamps tomorrow night? He could rise there just as easily as anywhere else, you know?"

Giles gave her an unbelieving look. "Doubtful. Sam and I will put together a search pattern which will give us the greatest chance of successfully catching him."

* * *

The Master had the Brethren of Aurelius in front of him again. And this time, there was a one-armed vampire to his right. "Marcus has just given me some very important news. News which corroborates my choice to be lenient all those years ago when he failed me. He tells me there are new hunters in the city. Winged hunters who are aiding the Slayer and tearing through our ranks. We must change our plans. You will leave the city and meet the Anointed as he leaves on his trip instead of when he arrives. Go and prepare. You leave at sundown tomorrow."

The Master turned to the one armed vampire. "And you, you have been absolved of your sins against me. I shall see you put to rights."

* * *

The children all patrolled the next night, looking for the Anointed One. The gargoyle clan had killed a fair number of vampires since they started patrolling only a short time ago. Wings were far superior to feet for both travel speed and for giving them a vantage point to spot and attack the undead from. Sunnydale was getting very quiet at night. Or at least all the places that gargoyles could easily patrol had gotten quiet. Every now and then, families were actually using the parks at night. No longer quite so afraid of 'gang activity'. One of those families unknowingly acted as bait and got the gargoyles their only kill of the night. Buffy shot it from the sky with her crossbow and the family never even knew they were in danger. Only the child on the swings even looked around at the odd noise of a vampire dusting nearby.

"We got one at Pinecone Park," Buffy radioed in. "But it didn't look like he was a recent riser."

"I have gotten three tonight," Kendra reported in on her radio. She was borrowing Xander's. She was also patrolling, but on foot and alone in those places with too many trees for the gargoyles to see through as they flew over.

"We've seen zip," Amy reported.

"Very good, Kendra," Zabuto praised. He was using Willow's radio so he had a direct connection to her that didn't require Rupert to pass on messages.

"Yes. The uh, rest of you as well. Job well done," Giles added awkwardly.

Sam looked at Giles impassively. "Four gargoyles got only one vampire while my Slayer got three."

Giles suddenly felt much less nervous and awkward. A snipe at his clan's abilities was an attack against the clan, after all. And he knew how to deal with an attack. "I think you're forgetting the scores of vampires and demons we've gotten in just the past week or so. Smart vampires no longer walk in the open."

"So you say," Sam said calmly and turned back to his research.

"I do say," Giles throttled the impulse to punch the man in the head. Mostly because he would probably tear the human's head off and that would make things even more awkward between themselves and the new Slayer—not to mention the council. He rolled his shoulders, stiff from an all-night research session. He looked at the clock. A few more minutes and they should probably head home. "Have you thought of enrolling Kendra in school or taking up the vacant librarian position?" he asked the other watcher.

"Kendra knows all she needs to know. And the job would only interfere in my duties as a watcher and hers as Slayer. Kendra would probably be dead in weeks," Sam needled.

Giles ignored the jibe. "Not long after we were… transformed by a witch on campus, a teacher at the school turned up decapitated."

Sam raised an eyebrow. Still, "Two such incidences do not a pattern make."

"In other words, you'll wait until more children or teachers die before you do anything?" Giles fired his own shot.

"Not at all. I will order Kendra to patrol around the area. But enrollment seems drastic," Sam said.

"You are on the Hellmouth now. I suggest you get used to taking drastic action," Giles said as he closed his book and rose. He then keyed his microphone, "Giles here. Time to head home." With that, he left the interloping watcher alone in his old flat.

* * *

The Anointed Five were driven into Sunnydale in the back of a limousine the Brethren of Aurelius had stolen just for the occasion. When they stopped, one of the Brethren hopped out and held the door open for them. An actual red carpet had been rolled out. They followed the short carpet to the door of the crypt, leaving themselves exposed to the night sky for only a few seconds. One of the Brethren then led the way down the passageway in the back of the crypt and through the sewers and tunnels that led to the Master's cave. At the Master's right sat a vampire with a hook in place of his own right hand.

The Master rose to greet them and opened his arms, "Welcome, my friends."

"The unholiest of holies. The Lord did cast the serpent into the pit to be tortured in a lake of fire for all eternity," One of the five preached.

The Master made a motion towards one of the Brethren who stepped forward to stake the vampire. He was relieved to do it, too. A Jesus-freak vampire was something he had never seen in all his long years. It unnerved him.

"Well, welcome to the rest of you in any case. Now, I'd like to read you a bit of prophesy, if I might. 'Five will die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise. The Brethren of Aurelius shall greet him and usher him to his immortal destiny.' Basically, what it means is that only one of you can be the Anointed one. So, the four of you fight and the survivor gets to be my Anointed champion to bring me the Slayer when the time is right." He paused to look around, "Well, what are you waiting for? Last one _not_ a pile of dust, wins."

The battle royale quickly turned into a 2-on-2 match-up. The boy and his mother, while being vampires meant they didn't fully trust each other anymore, were still mother and son and certainly had a connection that not even vampires could ignore. The other two, seeing this connection, silently decided to team up to take out the already paired team. They certainly didn't trust each other either, but each of them would be no match for two vamps, even if one was small.

The boy squared off against the nurse while the mother squared off against the bus driver. The driver, being male, started off with punches to the woman's face and body but was soon driven off. The mother, being a woman, was more familiar with the cat-fight style of fighting and found her new claws were wonderful for that. Unfortunately, claws are no match for a wooden bench, which the bus driver picked up and smacked her with. The mother landed on top of a whole mess of candles. The driver didn't even wait to watch her burn. Instead he turned to watch the other fight.

The boy and the nurse locked themselves in an epic struggle. Unfortunately for the boy, he was simply turned too early in his life and the nurse's superior size and leverage forced him back bit by bit. He reached a pile of candles and felt the flames start to lick up his back. And then the pressure stopped. The nurse had been stabbed in the back by the bus driver. The boy gave a quick glance around but he knew that if the driver was here then his mother was dead. Worse, flames were still crawling up his back. "Take you with me," he whispered to himself before he launched himself at the man and latched onto his leg.

"Get off! Get off!" the vampire yelled.

"Put them out! Put them out!" the Master yelled.

The remaining members of the Brethren of Aurelius launched themselves at the two vampires but only served to immolate themselves as well.

"No! No. No," the Master sunk to his knees in grief. This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen at all. The Anointed was to be his greatest warrior against the Slayer. Now he had neither the Brethren nor the Anointed.

"What happened?" a female voice asked.

"You? But you-?"

"Most of the candles went out when I landed on them. But my hair got a little singed. I'm glad Collin got him for that," the vampiress said.

The Master recovered himself quickly and stood up. "Congratulations, my dear. Tell me, what is your name?"

"Deborah. But everyone calls me Tod," Tod said.

The Master quirked what would have been an eyebrow if he'd had them.

"It's a long story," Tod said.

The Master waved his hand dismissively. "I don't care. Tod is good enough for me. Come, we have much to discuss, you and I."

"Oh, absolutely," Tod agreed. "Like how wood and fire are some of the few things that can kill vampires and yet you have both of them down here. Besides, candles are so passé," she scolded.

The Master looked at her as if she'd grown an extra head. He looked over at Marcus but the one armed vampire just shrugged.

* * *

"You know, what _I_ heard is that Willow went all 'Carrie' on their asses," Harmony said. "She poured blood on all of them and then pulled off Mrs. Madison's head with her psychosomatic powers."

"No way," another girl said. "Why would little miss goody-two-shoes do something like that?"

"Probably when she found out that Xander wasn't going to settle for her any time soon? I could see her doing that then," a third girl added.

Cordelia huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. "First of all, it's 'psychic', not 'psychosomatic', you moron. Second of all, have you seen Carrie? She's the one who gets blood dumped on her. It's why she kills all those people. And finally, do you really think that mousy Willow Rosenberg is capable of killing five people? Even Harmony bullied her, and it doesn't get much lower than that." With that she walked away. Still, she had to admit, Rosenberg going psycho was a better explanation than some new librarian kidnapping and eating four students. To the best of her knowledge, no student—or even faculty, for that matter—had willingly set foot in the library since the disappearances. If this could just be explained away as the normal weirdness that was Sunnydale High, then people could just get on with their lives. And by people, she meant her.


	15. Chapter 15

Minor Gargoyles Spoiler in this chapter.

Chapter 15.

A week later, the granite for Joyce's sculptures finally arrived. The movers had left them in her garage and that was good enough for her. But she did have them move most of the stones off to the side and leave just one in the middle. Then everyone had to choose a pose. A pose that would be captured in stone. Also a pose they would imitate every morning for a sleeping pose if the statue idea worked. They took turns forming different poses while Joyce took pictures with a camera. Buffy decided on a rather ferocious pose while Giles decided on something that resembled The Thinker. Xander liked the one with his wings cocooned around him and Willow imitated him. Amy wanted one with her wings up and off her back but none of the stones were big enough. With the two thin stones going to Willow and Xander, Amy had to adopt something that looked a bit like Buffy just so she'd fit in the stone's dimensions.

They didn't yet have the armor that they and the statues would eventually be wearing, but it would take a couple weeks before Joyce was ready to start with detail work like armor anyway. Joyce took an entire roll of film from different angles to get her started on her work.

Then it was time to meet Kendra for a hunt. They were going to push the Sunnydale Mall tonight. It would be their first combined hunt since the failed hunt for the Anointed One. Since then, Sam Zabuto had claimed that his Slayer worked better on her own and had kept her away from the gargoyles. But the mall was too big for her to hunt alone. There were too many exits where vampires might slip away from her. So they were teaming up with the gargoyle clan who couldn't go inside the mall without causing a scene. Together, both sides could be more effective than apart. Something even Zabuto could grudgingly admit.

* * *

The Master looked out at his cave in despair. Gone were the torches and scores of candles that had lit his lair since he'd risen. Now electric light bulbs threw their harsh lighting around his cave, placed there by his Anointed One, Tod. He knew about electric lighting of course. But in the 1930s, when he'd been trapped in his prison, electricity was only commonplace in major cities like LA. Sunnydale had been in the process of retrofitting most of its buildings for electricity at the time.

He hadn't even considered running something called extension cords to reach down here. Gone also were the puddles of standing water and anything and everything wood. The water because it was a hazard to the lights and the wood because it was a hazard to vampires. His realm was looking quite barren indeed. She had even taken his throne because it was wood.

"Don't worry. I'll get you a new one. I promise," she'd said.

But for now, all he had to sit on was a pink, plastic folding chair. She promised him that plastic couldn't harm vampires and even demonstrated by braking off a piece from a spare chair and shoving through Marcus's heart. Everyone was relieved that he didn't dust.

The Master suddenly found that he had many servants who had time on their hands now that they were no longer constantly keeping torches and candles lit in his room. After all, even vampires can't see in total darkness. However, instead of being sent in search of food to replenish his strength, these vampires were being sent out in search of decorations.

"I don't know how you lived down here with it all dark and dank before," Tod said as she directed her new workers.

The Master looked on from his pink lawn chair as he sipped from the neck of a small child that Darla got for him. At least _she_ was still doing as he wished. And he would put up with Tod's antics for a bit. But if she didn't bring him the Slayer soon, well, _he_ certainly didn't need a piece of wood to kill other vampires.

* * *

"Well, that was a bust." Buffy moped as they walked. "I really thought there'd be more than two vamps in the whole mall. Big place, lots of people..."

"Brightly lit," Giles finished. "The brighter the lighting, the more obvious it is that a vampire is undead. Our own night vision makes it rather obvious who is undead and who is not, but humans have more difficulty in low-light conditions."

"Which explains why there were so many at the Bronze the last time Kendra went through there for us," Amy nodded in realization. "Dimly lit."

"Though, since one of the vampires we dusted was in the parking lot waiting in ambush, I suggest we patrol over the area a bit more often," Giles suggested. "Also, we still must find the Anointed One, Xander's one armed friend, and whatever decapitated Dr. Gregory." The list of monsters that had gotten away was getting rather long.

Willow spoke up. "You know, Giles, I've been doing some research on that. No one has been decapitated since we killed that giant mantis. There were those eggs in her basement and several types of mantis are known to eat their... partners."

"True. But they generally eat all of the body, only starting with the head, contrary to popular myth," Giles pointed out.

"She could have been interrupted," Willow pointed out.

"Plus there's that part about her saying that she didn't like vampires because they turned to ash when she bit their head off," Xander added.

Everyone stopped and looked at him. Amy and Buffy were curious. Willow and Giles looked a little angry.

"Umm... didn't I mention that earlier?" he asked weakly.

"No. You did not," Giles said tightly, then sighed, forcing himself to relax. "It appears we've solved the mystery of who or what killed Dr. Greggory."

"And she would have gotten away with it too if it hadn't been for those meddling, gargoyle kids!" Xander quipped.

"The Scooby Gang strikes again!" Amy joined in the joke. "Speaking of which, we have to figure out who's who in the gang."

"Ooh! I call Daphne!" Buffy said.

"As the only redhead in the group, I think I have dibs on Daphne," Willow said.

"But I'd make an awesome Daphne. Besides, I already called 'dibs'," Buffy pouted. "Besides, I'm not smart enough to be Velma."

Amy turned to Xander. "If we're going by hair color, I guess that makes me Fred. You okay with being Shaggy?"

Xander shook his head then let out a very credible Scooby Doo laugh. "Hee he-he-he-he-he-he. Roh-oh, Raggy."

"Well who are we going to get to play Shaggy then?" Buffy asked. Four gargoyles all turned slowly to Giles.

Giles sighed, "No. Please do not include me in your childish games. Speaking of childish games though, have you or Kendra reconsidered posting yourselves at the school?" he asked Sam.

"Excuse me?" Kendra apparently had no clue as to what he was talking about.

Sam's lips narrowed in anger at the former watcher interfering with his charge yet again.

"Oh, he didn't ask you?" Giles asked as if he were surprised the topic hadn't come up. He was not. "I had wondered if you had wanted to enroll in school here or if Sam had wanted the Librarian posting. There were many attacks on students and teachers just in the few weeks we were there. And there are a number of disappearances every year."

"I… hadn't considered it," Kendra replied diplomatically. Truthfully, the thought of attending school with so many other children frightened her. She had been trained to deal with vampires, zombies, and demons, but she had never been trained in how to deal with other humans her own age.

"Perhaps you'll consider it after the next attack," Giles' voice had more venom than normal, but it was directed at Sam instead of Kendra.

"Perhaps," Sam nodded solemnly.

"Yes, and perhaps you might ask your vampire friend for information on the Anointed One. And the location of the one-armed vampire while you're at it," Giles asked Buffy.

"Vampire- _Friend_?" Sam asked incredulously.

"_So_ not a friend," Buffy said quickly. "More like a..."

"Snitch," Amy said when it didn't look like Buffy could come up with a word. "He's like our Confidential Informant. He tells us stuff, and in return- we don't kill him."

"And he was hurt last time we saw him. Looked like he met the clawy vamp he told us about and Dr. Claw didn't like him much," Buffy added quickly. She wasn't quite sure why she was defending a vampire to a watcher, but something about Sam Zabuto rubbed her the wrong way.

"It's against council policy to give clemency to vampires in exchange for information. It-"

"Well maybe it shouldn't be," Willow surprised herself by interrupting. She'd never interrupted an adult before. "I mean, the CI is a tool used by law enforcement agencies all around the world. Why shouldn't we use it?"

"Because vampires are evil. You do not make deals with evil beings," Sam insisted.

"Pfft. This guy wasn't giving off evil vibes. Sketchy vibes, maybe. But not evil," Buffy said. "Besides, he said he didn't kill people anymore."

"And you have proof of that?" Sam accused.

"Nope." Buffy popped her 'P'. "But without him, we wouldn't have known about the Harvest in time to stop the Master. And _that_ guy sounds seriously bad. So Angel gets a pass so long as he keeps making with the info."

Zabuto bristled even more than normal at being given commands by this child. A child who wasn't even human.

Once they were alone, Sam turned to his Slayer. "If you find this... Angel when the others are not around, you are to slay him immediately. But pretend to be nice if you are with the others. They are too numerous for you to take on alone." That was not his first hint to her that she might have to fight the gargoyles one day soon.

"Understood," Kendra nodded.

* * *

Buffy often felt half-deaf since becoming a gargoyle. Her night vision was better than it had been even as the Slayer, which was a nice trade off, but she wasn't sure if she even had normal human hearing any more. The only time she was thankful for it was on the nights (and they were often) when Xander and Amy would go off together. Then she was glad that she usually couldn't hear them. Except sometimes she _could_ hear Amy's screams of ecstasy, and she wasn't sure how she felt hearing that. Even Giles and Willow were starting to spend a lot of time together, mostly just patrolling together, but Buffy thought she was starting to see _looks_.

Buffy was actually feeling... jealous? Whatever it was she was feeling, she finally got Amy alone to talk to her. Thus it was that Amy flew off alone that night.

Xander watched her go, hurt and confusion on his face. And probably no small measure of disappointment.

"You've been ignoring me," Buffy started.

Xander turned his confused face towards her, "No I haven't."

Buffy suppressed the need to roll her eyes. "You haven't brought me any more flowers."

"You said you weren't ready. I figured I'd give you a chance to-"

"Xander," Buffy cut him off. "I'm ready."

* * *

That morning, Buffy snuggled close into one side of Xander as Amy snuggled into the other. Maybe soon they'd share him, but she was glad that Amy had given them the night alone together first. Xander's wooing had been pretty good; she was pretty sure that Amy had given him tips, as he wasn't nearly that suave when they had first met.

Also, tails were awesome!

* * *

"What are these?" David Xanatos asked his assistant, Owen.

"Photographs of gargoyles, sir. Real gargoyles, as near as I can tell," Owen replied.

"And these are authentic? Where were they taken?" Xanatos asked. He was outwardly as calm as ever, but inwardly he was as giddy as a schoolgirl.

"They were developed in a suburb of Los Angeles by a man who had heard that we were interested in gargoyles and such. They appear authentic, though we can't really be sure. I'm sure the man who developed them lacks the skills necessary to make such high quality fakes. All we know is that the roll was developed for a woman named 'Joyce' who paid cash and didn't leave a phone number. The suburb is called 'Sunnydale'. Which, combined with her other safeguards tells me that she probably traveled there from Los Angeles," Owen said in his usual monotone. He was also outwardly calm. Inside, he was more nervous than excited. And not for the same reasons as David Xanatos.

"Reasoning?" Xanatos queried.

"Our own gargoyles have shown a strong affinity for the tallest buildings around. Sunnydale doesn't have anything over four stories. And on a clear night, the lights from Los Angeles would be perfectly visible from there," Owen said.

Xanatos nodded. A reasonable argument. "There are a number of national forests in that area. The Angeles National Forest is half a million square acres alone and the Los Padres is probably bigger. Much more likely that they're hiding in those than imitating the clan we brought here. Actually, the high-desert east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains would be a much more likely place for them to have been hiding."

"Low population density until very recently. Perhaps that's how they survived this long, but these were taken indoors. In an artist's studio. There are a few art galleries in this Sunnydale, but no known studios. Los Angeles is lousy with artists," Owen countered.

Xanatos picked up the photos again. "They're posing," he realized, "...for an artist. And these stones in the background. They're having copies of themselves made. An excellent tactic. Very well, put out some feelers and try to find this artist. But be quiet about it. I don't want to draw any attention to them. I certainly don't want our own gargoyles to abandon us for the other coast. And keep a lookout both in LA and the surrounding suburbs for these statues. Once we find the statues, then we'll find them."

"Very well, sir." Owen gave a curt bow and gathered up the photographs to be put in storage. Inside, Puck was quite happy. He'd bought his 'children' a bit more time to get acclimated to their surroundings before the storm that was David Xanatos came crashing down on them. And he had dutifully reported the finding of the gargoyles as his employer would expect. It would have been too suspicious not to report the pictures. Xanatos would have found out anyway and questioned him on it.

* * *

The other day, Kyle and his band of hooligans had cornered Aphrodesia and made the poor Cordette cry. Something had to be done about them—even if she had to do it herself—which led to her being here and enjoying this field trip less than she normally would have enjoyed a day off from school. As she watched Kyle and his little gang of animals from a discrete distance, they started picking on the smaller boy, Lance. She couldn't hear what was being said but from the looks of things they were just playing a little keep-away with Lance's notebook. She wasn't about to interfere in that. Partly because she knew they would soon tire of that and partly because she hoping for a major infraction here. Something she could take directly to Principal Flutie and get them expelled. Speaking of whom, here came the man-without-fashion-sense himself. His jacket was such an eyesore that it almost made her eyes water just to look at it.

She could hear Flutie asking what was going on. She couldn't hear the responses but obviously Kyle denied everything. She just shook her head in disappointment when Lance shook his head as well and Flutie walked off in a huff.

She almost smiled as she saw them drag Lance into the closed hyena exhibit. Hopefully, if they thought there were no witnesses, they would let their true colors shine through. She followed discretely behind until she could hear them up ahead.

"Cool!" said Kyle.

She couldn't see them yet, but it sounded like they were around the next corner.

"I don't see any hyenas," Lance sounded nervous. As if he just realized he was alone with Kyle and his gang with no witnesses. Then the sound of a hyena growling echoed back.

"Okay! Now we've seen it," Lance said. She could hear the nervousness in his voice even if she couldn't see him backing away.

"Looks cute," Rhonda said.

"I think it looks hungry," Kyle said threateningly. She could almost see what Kyle was planning.

There was a sound of a scuffle and Lance shouted, "No!" That was her cue. She started moving.

"C'mon, Spot!" Tor said as he and Kyle dragged Lance to the pen.

"C'mon, stop it!" Lance begged.

"Supper time!" Tor called to the animals.

"Guys! Stop! It's not funny!" Lance continued begging.

She came in and pulled Lance away. "I think you guys have had enough fun for one day. Report to the buses."

"Or what? You'll call our parents?" Kyle taunted.

"No, I'm going to start with the police. Assault and Battery on Lance here."

Lance stood up and shook his head. "It's alright, Miss Calendar. They weren't going to do anything."

"Anything except breaking into a closed exhibit and dangling a student in front of hungry predators? Luckily, I saw it all and I don't need Lance to testify to press charges. Get on the bus. Now!" Jenny Calendar said.

Kyle got in her face. "Or what?"

He was nearly a foot taller than her, but she'd faced worse than a high school bully in her day. "Back off," she ordered.

He feinted towards her. That was all she needed to justify her next move. She grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back.

"Ow, ow, ow!" he yelled as she forced him up against the hyena cage.

"How do you like it?" Jenny asked as she pulled a zip tie from her sleeve. Those zip ties had hundreds of uses, from tying computer cables and detaining wayward children, to the far kinkier. She hadn't really thought he'd actually be stupid enough to give her an excuse, but kids these days. Whaddaya do?

A laughing growl caused all five of the people near the cage to look at the hyena just as its eyes flashed green.

_Oh, that can't be good,_ Jenny thought.

* * *

A/N: Push or Drive are hunting terms where one or more 'drivers' walk through an area to 'push' game from that area to an area where hunters wait to take the prey.

A/N2: The number of torches and candles in the Master's cave was ludicrous. It takes a lot of time and money just to procure the number torches and candles it would take to keep that place lit for even 24 hours.

A/N3: It's been pointed out a number of times in stories with the Hyena in it that hyenas are matriarchal. What's often forgotten is that female hyenas are bigger and stronger than male hyenas. (Also according to Wikipedia they have large pseudopenises [yes, I do a lot of research for my stories] but we'll skip that part) Which is why Xander as the leader of that pack makes perfect sense. So, I needed a new leader who could stand up to Kyle and Tor. Also, a group of hyenas is called a Clan, not a Pack.

A/N4: Minor Gargoyles Spoiler Alert! Owen is Puck. In case you were confused.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: A Reminder: I don't care what cannon says. A group of hyenas is a _Clan_, not a Pack. See the wikipedia entry on the Spotted Hyena for details. – I'd like to point out that I'm an equal opportunity canon-breaker. I don't care who wrote it, "because it's wrong."

Chapter 16.

Kyle easily snapped the zip tie holding his hands behind his back. A feeling of strength suffused his entire body. Now was the time to assert his dominance and take control of the group. He turned on the teacher that had challenged him and struck.

Jenny was expecting that, though, and easily deflected the clumsy blow and used his momentum to flip Kyle onto his back, knocking the wind out of him. She checked that Lance had left before taking the next step. She flipped Kyle over while he was still trying to catch his breath and pulled both hands up behind his back... hard. She didn't bother with the useless zip ties this time. "Who's the leader of the clan?" She had to wait until he caught his breath again. "Who's the leader of the clan?" she sing-songed this time.

"You are," Kyle admitted.

"That's made for you and me," she continued singing.

"Huh?"

"Em eye es," Rhonda caught the tune first.

"Es see aye," Heidi caught on too.

"El ee en dee aye-are," the last letter was kind of muddled between the three women as two letters were forced into a spot reserved for one. The words 'Miss Calendar' just didn't fit in the spot in the song as well as the original words did. The two girls and Tor started laughing at the joke. Kyle didn't find it nearly as funny, lying face down on the concrete still trying to breathe normally after having the wind knocked out of him and a woman sitting on top of him.

"Next time, just leave out the second 'es' in 'miss'," Jenny said to the girls, then picked Kyle up easily. She had to admit, this extra strength was nice. "Now, to the bus."

The laughter suddenly stopped.

"But- I thought-" Heidi began.

"You're one of us now," Rhonda stated what they all felt.

"Yes. And _I'm_ the leader. Which makes me responsible for you. More so than before, even. So, you're going to go sit on the bus while I try to figure out what the hell just happened and why," Jenny said.

"You're not going to try and undo this are you?" Heidi asked. This feeling of strength was amazing. She never wanted to give this up.

"I don't know yet," Jenny said honestly. "This kind of empowering magic always has side effects. I need to figure out how we were empowered so I can figure out if the side effects can be handled, negated, or whether they'll drive us mad and consume us if we don't undo this."

Her warning didn't have the desired effect. All four children started laughing. Even she felt her lips twitching. Being consumed by magic was suddenly very funny to her. "Just go so I can figure this out. And don't pick on anyone on your way out. I don't want to have to deal with getting you out of detention to deal with this."

They finally left and Jenny was free to examine the sacred circle painted on the ground. She couldn't believe she had missed that when she entered, but she had been a little focused on saving Lance at the time.

It was clear from the design that it was a spirit-possession circle. And the only other animals in here at the time had been the hyenas. They'd been looking right at them when she'd felt the power hit her. Now she just needed to research hyena spirit possessions. She really wished now that that stuffy librarian hadn't taken all the good books out of the library when he disappeared, but at least he couldn't take the information off the internet. That was why she liked computers so much. It was very hard to erase information off the internet.

* * *

"It saps our intelligence. Or our ability to reason at any rate. It pretty much leaves us as animals if left unchecked," Jenny explained to the clan.

"I don't feel any dumber," Tor said, rubbing his head.

"That's 'cause you couldn't get any dumber than you already are," Heidi teased.

The group burst out laughing at that, even Jenny chuckled. "There are two ways to stop it. Either undo the spell-"

"No!" the other four shouted.

"-_or_, there's the second half of the ritual we can do." Jenny smiled at the eager nods all around. She drove them all to her house. They couldn't really do the ritual at school. First of all, they didn't have most of the herbs and other ingredients she needed, and secondly, this part of the ritual required them to be 'sky-clad'. AKA, _naked_. As she drove she explained. "Magic is real. There are things out there. Things that stalk the night. Things straight out of your nightmares. That's why this empowerment spell exists in the first place. African tribes developed it to combat the monsters. Because most of those things are faster, stronger, and see better at night than we do. But they didn't just want to create new, more powerful monsters. The second part of the ritual makes sure we keep our human minds in control. Mostly."

"We're going to get night-vision?" Tor asked.

Jenny shrugged. "Really don't know. We won't find out for sure until tonight, but there's a good chance, though. Hyenas are visual hunters. But back to my point: monsters are real. Vampires are real. Pretty much anything you've heard of that goes bump in the-"

"Crap," Kyle interrupted.

"Yes. But there are things out there that bump back. We're one of them," Jenny said.

"Wait," Heidi said. "You want us to hunt monsters?"

"Only if you want to keep these powers. This isn't a free ride. With great power comes great responsibility, after all. Does anyone want to go back to their nice, boring, suburban lives?" Jenny offered as she pulled into her driveway. There weren't any takers.

Jenny did the ritual first as the example and also because she was much less shy about showing her naked body than the nervous teenagers. Male bravado was the only thing that let Tor and Kyle strip down and perform the ceremony. It was hard to say what motivated Heidi and Rhonda except the fear of losing themselves to the hyena. Or maybe just the promise of losing the hyena if they didn't do the ritual.

Once it was done and everyone was dressed again, Jenny addressed the clan, "Two men walked into a bar. The third one ducked."

There was a moment of silence, then snickering, before outright guffaws and giggles. Even Jenny was laughing.

"I guess they're still with us. Hopefully things won't get any worse. Everyone, let me know if you think you or someone else is getting worse," Jenny told them seriously.

* * *

Buffy and Xander were staking out the butcher's shop on 49th, hoping for Angel to show up. They needed more info on this Anointed guy. All avenues of research and every patrol had produced bupkis, and they hadn't even spotted Angel again. Which was why they were now sitting on top of a butcher shop's roof, since it was the only place they knew their 'informant' might stop by. Buffy was already muttering about the 'Annoying One,' since, thanks to him, it meant that they had to sit on the roof of a building instead of spending it navigating the air currents above the city. Or having sex, which was more fun than she'd ever imagined. But Giles had actually specified 'no having sex' as part of the rules of the stakeout. Though he probably should have left Amy and- No, that wouldn't work.

Buffy was pulled from her musings when Xander tapped her shoulder. She turned around in time to see a crowd approaching. A really big crowd of vampires. There had to be 50 at least, and Angel was nowhere to be seen. But there was a familiar vamp. Though he no longer looked like Dr. Claw and now looked more like Captain Hook. Both she and Xander ducked behind the lip of the roof so they were out of sight but could still listen. There was no way they wanted to try to take on a group that large. Even with the entire clan with them, that would have been too many.

"Ah! I was wondering when you guys would be visiting again. It's been a while," a male voice said.

"There's been trouble," a female voice answered.

The man sounded a little angry. "You haven't brought that trouble here, have you? You know the agreement-"

"Relax," she cut him off. "That's why we came in such a big group. There are some new players in town. They don't play by the rules."

There was a huff.

"Here's your money. We'll take everything you've got saved up for us," she said.

"Alright," he said. "Wait here. The boys'll be out in a minute with your blood."

Xander and Buffy shared a shocked look that a human was knowingly doing business with vampires but remained quiet. They stayed quiet as the sounds of men carrying and setting down heavy plastic buckets sounded. There was more shuffling, probably the vampires picking up the heavy buckets with their preternatural strength. They waited until it had been perfectly quiet for a full minute until they dared peek. The coast was clear. They didn't even bother extending their wings as they dropped to the ground. A stocky man with a great walrus mustache was standing behind the counter.

"So, you must be the mice that have been crawling around on my roof all night. Are you also the 'new players who don't play by the rules'?" he asked.

Xander broke into a wide grin, "That's us!"

Buffy did not smile. "You're feeding vampires!" she accused.

"Seamus. And you are...?" Seamus extended his hand in greeting.

"Xander," Xander took his hand carefully. When Buffy wouldn't shake, he added, "This is Buffy."

"Pleased ta meet'cha," Seamus smiled. "And I'll answer your question with another question. Do you know how many lives I've saved because I sold them blood so they _didn't_ have to go out and hunt? If I didn't sell them blood, then this town would have been sucked dry decades ago."

Buffy looked a bit flabbergasted as she thought about that.

"And now, since you don't know the rules, and there are plenty you need to know; but the one you need to know right now is: no huntin' around my place. You got a feud with the vamps, I don't care, but you leave it be when you get here or I don't serve ya," Seamus warned.

"Wait," Xander said. "You're willing to serve us even though we look like this?"

Seamus chuckled, "Ya got any money?"

"Well, not on me," Xander admitted. "But we have some, yes. Can we buy other things from you too?"

"You got money, I'll sell you blood, meat, hides, and any other meat or animal byproducts. You want anything else, see Willie over at the Alibi Room. That's another place where you leave your fights outside. But he'll get you what you want or can direct you to whoever you need to see to get whatever you need," Seamus told them. "Oh, and one other thing. Billy! Mac!" he called over his shoulder. Two young men walked out. "These are the new demons in town. Xander and Buffy. Xander and Buffy, these are my assistants, Billy and Mac. No eating them," he shook a finger warningly.

"Oh, uh, we don't eat humans," Buffy said quickly waving her hands in front of her emphatically.

"Yeah, that's kind of why we have a feud against the vamps," Xander nodded. "Or at least one of the reasons. Actually, we're looking for a particular vamp by the name of Angel."

Billy obviously recognized the name.

Seamus looked like he was going to try to lie until Billy blew his cover. "Yeah, I know him. He's not very popular with the others 'cause he doesn't hunt humans at all, supposedly."

"That's the story we heard too, and that's why we're looking for him. We only want to talk to him," Buffy assured him.

Seamus frowned. "Usually comes on Wednesdays. Early, just after sunset."

"If I don't get here in time, tell him Buffy wants to talk. He knows where to find me. Anyway, it was nice to meet you." This time, Buffy held out her hand for the shake and Seamus magnanimously took it.

"Likewise," he said.

Xander and Buffy bounded to the roof and then up again to take off.

* * *

Giles was not particularly pleased that they had revealed themselves to a human. He was relieved that the human had reacted well, but supposed that was only par for the course of humans that dealt with vampires day to day... or night to night, as the case might be. That he'd thought they were demons was almost insulting, but Giles was pleased that they hadn't corrected him. "I think I shall have a talk with this 'Willie'," he mused, mostly to himself. "But for now: training. Hop to it."

* * *

Living in California, especially near Los Angeles, Giles had fallen out of the habit of watching the weather reports. It was nearly always the same. Bright and sunny. Highs in the 90s in the summer and 50-60s in the winter; lows in the 50s or 30s depending on the season. He never mentioned to his Slayer that California winter temperatures would be met with great enthusiasm in England. What he'd forgotten was that California had a Mediterranean climate complete with hot, dry summers and cool, (relatively) wet winters. November through April was considered the rainy season. Somewhere around 16 inches of rain would fall over the next six months. And he was remembering that now, since it was late in arriving but currently soaking him and his clan to the skin.

Still, even though he felt the rain and knew that it was cool, it failed to chill him like it should. The other gargoyles similarly looked more annoyed than cold.

"Great. Leather takes forever to dry," Buffy groused.

Giles had other priorities. The area they were standing in was cleared of the chaparral but that meant that the vegetation was no longer holding the meager soil in place. Their camp, such as it had been, was now a mud pit. Also, none of their gear was terribly fond of the rain.

"I vote we stay inside during the day today," Willow said.

"Seconded," Buffy agreed.

"Hey, what about your place?" Xander asked Giles. "We'd have a watcher and a Slayer to guard us while we slept."

Giles sighed. He didn't want to have to explain this to them. "Because they aren't here to guard us, Xander. They are here to evaluate us and determine if we are threats or not. And quite frankly, I don't like some of the looks Mr. Zabuto has given us when he thought we weren't looking."

"Me too," Buffy said. "I was voting for staying at my mom's."

"We'll see," Giles said diplomatically. "I would rather that Sam had to look somewhere other than your mother's house if he desired to find us."

"Good point," Buffy nodded.

They all took off and headed for Sunnydale in the rain.

* * *

A/N: Just so we're clear: Do not own anything by Disney.

A/N2: Captain Hook is part of the Peter Pan universe. I looked it up and supposedly the copyright on that has expired in the US. Still, it doesn't pay to take chances so: Do not own!


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17.

"I didn't see anyone at all out tonight," Giles observed as they were toweling off in the Summers' entryway. They wouldn't get dry like this, but they might track only half the amount of water into the house at the very least. "I don't think we need to patrol at all, but we do need to dry out our electronics and discuss where we are going to spend the day."

"Well, why don't you stay here?" Joyce offered. She was still holding a few extra towels as she had just grabbed a big stack to make sure everyone had at least one.

Buffy flinched a little at that.

"You don't want to stay here?" Joyce asked her daughter, just a little hurt. True, her daughter was getting ready to have a baby/lay an egg in a nest, but she wasn't ready for her little girl to leave her own proverbial nest just yet either.

"Quite the opposite. She was very eager. I talked her out of it though." Giles hesitated again. He really didn't want to spread unfounded accusations around but he couldn't think of another reasonable reason. "The fact of the matter is that the watchers council does not always play well with others," he cleared his throat uncomfortably under Joyce's stare.

"You mean to tell me that the same council that my daughter used to work for might now be out to hurt her?" Joyce said icily.

"Not all of them, of course. Not the majority, even."

Joyce glared. "But this one? This Sam Zzz-"

"Zabuto," Giles supplied. "He's well respected among the council for being especially adherent to tradition."

"And we don't like the way he looks at us," Buffy said, then paused. "Ew, I just realized how that sounded."

"Anyway. I would rather we didn't spend the day somewhere he might look for us. Just in case," Giles finished.

"But he doesn't know you suspect him, right?" Joyce said. When Giles nodded, she went on. "Spread out."

"There's strength in numbers tha-" Giles was cut off.

"She's right," Willow spoke up. "He can't do anything unless we're all together. If he smashed one of us in our sleep the rest would tear him apart. He knows that. So he can't act unless he knows where all of us are."

"Maybe," Giles allowed. "But there is strength in being together as a _clan,_" he finished his thought from earlier.

"That's what the radios are for," Willow countered.

"Which we already found don't work all that well in the rain despite claims to be 'water-proof'," Giles pointed out.

"So?" Xander jumped in. "So we set meeting points if it's raining or the radios go down. We already have those five you set up. Add a couple more and we're good to go."

"At least until we know where Zabuto stands," Amy said.

"Very well." Giles gave up as he was thoroughly outvoted. "As long as we aren't going to be patrolling tonight, we can use the time to come up with contingency plans. Then we shall retire to the basement for training."

"While _I_ put some frozen pizzas in the oven," Joyce rose from the couch.

"Ooh! Mom, do we have any room in that chest freezer downstairs?" Buffy asked.

"I suppose. Why?" Joyce said as she paused halfway to the kitchen.

"Well, we," Buffy pointed to the three female gargoyles. "Need a bit more than frozen pizzas."

Joyce smacked herself in the head gently. "I forgot. I can run and get more groceries."

"Actually, there's a butcher on 49th that sells cows by the half. But even we couldn't eat a whole half of a cow in one night. I talked to the butcher, a half is somewhere between 200 and 500 pounds of meat and bone. But we can pick our own to control the cost," Buffy said.

"Anyway, if we can refrigerate or freeze what we don't eat tonight, then it's really cost effective," Xander added.

"How would we get-"

"We'll take care of the buying and transport if you'll allow us the use of your freezer," Giles said.

"Of course," Joyce nodded.

With that, Giles sent the children to the basement to empty the freezer down there and bring everything upstairs. Then Buffy took some money from Giles and went out in the rain to buy a side of beef. She was told by the butcher that Angel hadn't been by and he didn't expect him until the weather improved. Apparently, older vampires could go pretty long without blood if they needed to. Or if they just didn't feel like getting wet, which a lot of them didn't. Between the rain and the weight of the meat, it was too much to try and fly back in. Plus there was no one out to see her, so she just walked home, carrying the entire side of beef over her shoulder.

After a breakfast of several pounds of raw beef each, they started training in the basement. They changed their minds and decided to train first so that Joyce could get some sleep later and not be woken by strange noises in her basement. Their quiet planning would be much more conducive to sleep.

* * *

"Man, late night TV blows," Xander grumbled. "Can we go back to planning for contingencies? That's starting to sound like a lot more fun."

"Either that or go to New York. We really get screwed for late night TV here on the west coast," Amy added.

"You are all making amazing progress in your training, but I would still prefer several more months before we think of taking a trip out there," Giles said. _Or preferably several more years_, he thought.

"Wait, I thought you didn't want us to meet them?" Buffy said.

Giles sighed. "Not _yet_. I said I didn't want you to meet them _now_. But eventually. Once we have exhausted all avenues for restoration and you have all adjusted more to being gargoyles."

"And after the eggs hatch," Buffy said, taking most of the joy in the room out and replacing it with uncomfortable silence. On the TV, Jack LaLanne continued to peddle his juicers.

And then the power went out.

* * *

The Master sat in his cave. He was not pleased. Not pleased at all. Apparently his cave wasn't so much a cave as it was part of the underground sewer system of the town of Sunnydale. That hadn't been so bad before. Before the rains came. Before Tod had converted him from candle power to electricity. Electricity that did not mix well with water and soon shorted out.

He couldn't say for sure that his candles wouldn't have been put out by the raging torrent of water he could hear rushing through his cave but he did know that if Tod had allowed some backup candles then they wouldn't be blind at the current moment. Even vampires couldn't see in complete darkness.

Several vampires had stopped answering him. Likely they had been washed out to sea. They would survive as long as it wasn't daylight out, which he was pretty sure it wasn't.

"I just don't understand," Tod whined. "I had them put all the lines above the water."

"My dear," the Master said as patiently as possible. "Did it occur to you that the sewers are right now handling more water than normal?"

"No," Tod said.

Silence.

"Fine. From now on, we'll have some backup sources of light. Candles and waterproof flashlights," he decreed.

"Great idea!" Tod clapped energetically.

_She's going to bring me the Slayer. She's going to bring me the Slayer. She's going to bring me the Slayer..._ he repeated to himself.

* * *

The power came back on about three hours later.

Joyce came down about an hour before sunrise wearing a robe. "Kids, do you mind if I have a talk with Mister Giles?"

The rain had, by then, finally stopped, so all the kids tromped outside.

Joyce looked towards the door long after it was closed. "What's the long term plan, Mister Giles?"

"Please, call me Rupert. And I honestly don't know for sure. Slayers are noted for being rather territorial, though Buffy shared with Xander and Willow rather well, so I don't know if that will be true this time around. We haven't known Kendra or Sam long enough to make a call there," Giles said. "If it came down to it, I would rather move the clan rather than risk any sort of confrontation with Kendra or the council. Would that be alright with you? If we moved, I mean. I know you've only just arrived here, but perhaps if it meant us leaving, I could talk Sam into having the council buy your house from you."

"They would do that?" she asked.

Giles gave a nod. "Not ordinarily, but maybe if conflict were likely, and the fact that all of their books are already here could be a good selling point."

Joyce shrugged. "It _would_ save us from having to move all those books again," she gave a small smile.

"Indeed."

"You'll need to decide soon. Before their- their _eggs_ are laid," Joyce swallowed around the uncomfortable word.

"A fact I ponder every night, I assure you," Giles said. "Do you have any preference for where we might go?"

"Would LA be far enough away?" Joyce wondered. "I have friends there. I might even be able to get my old job back if not my old house."

Giles nodded. "Buffy would be familiar with the area and the other children would likely have at least a general knowledge of a city so close. Barring a reason not to, I think that might be best."

"When do you want to tell them?" Joyce asked.

"At least a month from now, if I can help it," Giles said. "They've had so many shocks already in so short a time. I want to give them some time to adjust before hitting them with this."

"Don't wait too long," Joyce advised.

* * *

It wasn't Buffy who stayed at the Summers' house that day. It was Xander. He had an idea that he wanted to try out but he needed to know how he looked doing it.

He wanted to disguise himself as much as possible as a plain, ordinary rock. He had done more reading of Biology textbooks since the attack by the giant mantis than he ever had all his years in school. And he'd come up with a (to his mind) brilliant idea. Camouflage.

He decided that there were two basic types of insects. Those that hid and those that fought. Fighters also included poisonous types, those that wore bright colors to ward off attack. Basically, they reminded Xander of Giles the first morning; striking a ferocious pose to scare off... something. But gargoyles during the day weren't fighters. They were the bluffers. Like insects that mimicked dangerous insects and hoped no one called their bluff. Except the council already knew they were bluffing. So now they needed to hide for real.

So, in Buffy's room with Joyce watching, he laid down on the floor in a spot where he thought he'd catch some rays and pulled his left wing up and over his head and then back over his back. "Let me know how it looks," he called out just before he turned to stone.

* * *

The transformation was strange and oddly beautiful. One moment there was a living, breathing being there, and then the edges started to get a bit gray. A few seconds later, and what had once been a purple gargoyle was now a lump of gray stone. Part of her was saddened as she realized that somewhere out there, Buffy was doing the same thing, though perhaps without trying to look like a real rock so much. Which reminded her...

Joyce cocked her head as she examined the hidden gargoyle. She wouldn't have said it looked like a natural stone, but whatever it looked like, it certainly didn't look like a gargoyle. She made a note to purchase a Polaroid camera and some film that day to show him what he looked like.

* * *

By the third rainy night in a row, Xander had convinced the rest of the clan of the need to camouflage themselves. And with the help of the others, Joyce, and her Polaroid camera, they had perfected a way of covering themselves with their wings in such a way that it would look pretty rock-like if you didn't look too closely.

Most everyone had been sleeping on rock outcroppings anyway. Giles had gone back to camp and reported that it and most of the Los Padres was nothing but mud. It was decided that from now on everyone would find their own rock to sleep on each day and they would meet at Joyce's each evening.

* * *

Kendra was not in a great mood. She had lived through several hurricanes and many tropical storms in her life before she ever became a Slayer. But patrolling in a cold winter rain in California when the air temperature was barely 40° was just intolerable. Only the fact that Mr. Zabuto didn't mind that she cut her patrols short each night after confirming that no one was out and that he had hot chocolate, a hot shower, and a warm blanket waiting for her when she got back allowed her to keep going.

Kendra was surprised to learn that Mr. Giles didn't make his Slayer hot chocolate every night like Mr. Zabuto did. Then again, Buffy had still lived at home with her mother, who presumably did such things.

Kendra felt that she got the better deal out of the bargain. She had one person to act as both parent and watcher, whereas Buffy had (until recently) been forced to split her life in two to keep the sides separate. It must have been painful to have to lie to her mother like that. Kendra didn't even want to imagine. She could never betray Mr. Zabuto that way.

Not to say she was free of jealousy. She'd seen a picture of three of the teens together when they'd still been human and they'd looked so happy. Even with the terrible curse they'd been hit with, they still had each other.

And _she_ had her watcher. And the two of them had spent a great deal of time during the burst of rain researching spells that might have hexed the former Slayer and her friends and trying to find a way to undo it.

* * *

Jenny Calendar was getting frustrated. Her new clan wanted to _hunt_. Wanted to stretch their legs and kill something. And after she'd informed them about the supernatural underworld, they'd really wanted to hunt something like that. Unfortunately, three nights of rain had forced them inside. The children were able to take out a small part of their frustrations on a game of dodgeball. Jenny no longer considered trying to get them in trouble when they picked on Lance in that game, though she did give them a mild scolding about not turning on your teammates, even if they weren't Clan.

The next day, the skies had finally cleared and it looked like they'd finally get to hunt. Even with that promise, there had still been a close call with Herbert the Pig. Jenny didn't want to consider what might have happened if she hadn't stopped them. _Raw pork_, she shuddered at the thought of Trichinosis. Then again, the empowerment spell had improved their strength, speed, and night-vision. Why not their stomachs as well? She'd certainly found herself consuming a lot more meat than she used to.

Either way, they'd find out tonight. Clear skies were forecast and Angel hadn't had had any fresh blood for a while. She'd introduce her new clan to him tonight. Hopefully they wouldn't meet face to fang, but she wanted to use a known vampire to teach them how to tell the difference between the living and the undead.

Hopefully before whatever was coming, happened. Portents were pointing to something major happening soon.

* * *

Buffy finished throwing her bedding in the dryer not long before sunrise, the mess she, Amy, and Xander had made on the sheets having been washed off. It had been a fun game, trying to keep quiet with her mother sleeping just down the hall and Giles and Willow downstairs. But three nights of very little to do and Buffy was definitely looking forward to the clear night predicted for tomorrow. She was going to be sleeping in her own bed today even. Well, next to it, anyway. The sun hit the floor next to her bed half of the day so she'd sleep where she could catch that.

* * *

Kendra couldn't wait. Mr. Zabuto had a night-vision scope hidden under some trees and the two of them were going to stake out the butcher shop where Angel was expected to show. If they could track him back to his lair, Kendra could stake him the next day and no one would know he was dust for several nights at the very least.

* * *

A/N: Jack LaLanne was a body builder and health advocate who sold juicers on late night infomercials. Do not own.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18. A meeting of the clans.

Spreading out for the gargoyles had meant that no one slept too near someone else. The gargoyles had a sophisticated way of ensuring that. They made a list of all the best places to sleep then they drew cards to see who picked first. High card won and the rest picked their spot in order of their card's value. Each night they would pick again so that no one trying to track them could ever know who would sleep where what night.

Amy won the inaugural round and got first pick. She picked Kingman's Bluff. It was on the west side of town. Close to town, but far enough away and steep enough that it didn't have many visitors. Being high also meant Amy only had to leap up and then glide all the way to the Summers' house. The path to that house from the bluff happened to pass very close by both the butcher's on 49th and then Sam and Kendra's apartment. When she landed, she waited impatiently for the rest of the clan. She had seen that Sam and Kendra were staking out the butcher shop from a blind that looked like it was designed to hide them from above. Which was too bad for them, because Amy had been south and not really above them when she spotted their hideout.

* * *

Angel bought an extra gallon of blood when he got to the butcher. He had to make do with cow's blood this time, as all the fresh pig's blood was sold out by the time he got there. Three days of rain meant there was a rush for blood tonight, and it was hardly surprising, but it was still disappointing. At least he had a peaceful walk home to enjoy, along with the smell of fresh rain. The rule was, technically, that there was no fighting at the butcher's. By unspoken agreement, this also included walking home with your bags in plain sight. You couldn't attack or be attacked as long as you were holding those bags.

Except that someone didn't tell this chick. She tackled him and tried to stake him. Angel was forced to drop his bags so he could block her stake. He then rolled with the attack and used her own momentum to kick her off him. "You're going to pay for that," he snarled angrily. Really what he meant was that she needed to reimburse him for the blood she'd just spilled. He was going to be lucky if there was even a pint of fresh anything left when he got back to the store.

Instead of pulling out her wallet, she lunged at him again. The attack never made it. A new human came from the left and clocked the woman he'd been fighting/about to fight. A roundhouse kick drove her backwards several yards from him. And suddenly, there were five humans standing between him and a girl who clearly wasn't human. With Buffy... changed—he wasn't sure if Buffy was dead or really a monster—a part of him wondered if this new girl was the new Slayer. It was awfully quick for her to get here if she was, but transportation today wasn't the same as in his day.

"Back off, Slayer," one of the humans—a female—spoke, confirming Angel's guess. "This one is under our protection. He lives. He suffers. No slaying."

"Gypsy," Angel whispered. Her accent was fairly clean, but anyone interested in him living and suffering had to be of that tribe.

* * *

"Sort of," Jenny shot over her shoulder.

"No slaying," came a voice from above. "But beat up on him all you want. You need the practice after all," Xander added as he landed behind Kendra. "Miss Calendar?"

"Do I know you?" Jenny asked. She could count the number of demons she knew by name on one hand, and there were five demons landing behind the Slayer right now. The odds were tipping distinctly against her even if Angel fought the new Slayer on her clan's side, she wasn't sure if her clan could take this unknown demon clan.

Another demon tutted. Actually Tutted! "Kendra, we're very disappointed in you. I believe we made it clear that you were not to harm Angel. And yet you're attacking him with a stake. Explain yourself."

"She doesn't explain herself to you," a dark man stepped out of the night carrying a crossbow. It was leveled at Angel.

Angel put his arms up a bit as if to say he gave up. But it wasn't to actually give up, it was to get his arms close to his heart to make a grab for the bolt if and when it flew.

The black man went on, "He's a vampire. He dies."

"He's my vampire. My tribe cursed him," Jenny laid her claim on him.

"He's our informant," Willow said much more bravely than she felt. "And- and we had a deal!"

"We had no deal. We had you giving _my_ Slayer orders, something you had no business doing," the black man spat.

* * *

A crunching sound came from Angel's right, drawing everyone's attention. Two of the gargoyles were leaning against a tree. The purple one was chewing and handed his half-eaten apple to the golden colored one. "No, no. Go on. You guys were busy with the posturing and the threatening," Xander said around his snack. A few pieces of apple were spit into the night air as he spoke. He waved them on in a 'go forward' gesture. "Please continue. It was very entertaining."

Amy took a large bite of the apple to hide the smile that was trying to break out on her face.

"This is a no-win situation for you Sam. If Angel dies, then you've angered two groups of supernatural fighters," Giles looked at the other group to try and size them up. But he really hadn't seen enough of them, just the fact that they had blindsided a Slayer who was focused on another target. "One vampire who was bringing home..." he dipped his finger in the blood on the ground and tasted it, "cow's blood. Is it really worth the risk for one vampire?"

Sam growled but put up his crossbow. He motioned for Kendra, who stepped out from between the two groups. "This isn't over."

"Indeed not," Giles promised. "We'll stop by the apartment tonight."

The sound of Xander taking another large bite of apple echoed through the night as Sam and Kendra turned and left. He stage whispered to Amy as he handed back the apple, "I think there's about to be more threatening for information."

Jenny smiled. "Oh, I don't know about that, Xander Harris. It took me a minute to recognize your voice, mostly because you've changed so much since you died. Or since you were declared dead, at any rate. And I recognize Willow Rosenberg's voice as well. Which would make the other two Buffy Summers and Amy Madison, I believe. And at a guess, you would be 'something Giles'. I forgot your first name, since we only met once."

"It's Rupert," Giles supplied. "And do you think we could do the meet-and-greet elsewhere? I would rather not share overmuch with the vampire."

Angel frowned at being called 'the vampire' but held his tongue. They may have just saved his life after all. Fighting a slayer was no joke. At least a thousand vampires tried it each year and almost all failed, usually to their permanent demise. "I'm just going to go back to the butcher for some more blood." No one said anything or tried to stop him, so he left.

"And who are you?" Giles tried again.

"I got that." Xander said and pointed to each in turn. "Miss Calendar, the computer teacher. Then we have Kyle, Tor, Heidi, and Rhonda. Collectively known as the Idiot Patrol."

The four in question chuckled and giggled at that. Jenny managed to keep her face straight.

Rhonda sniffed at the three gargoyles in front of her. "What happened to you guys? What are you?"

"They're gargoyles," Jenny answered. She knew gargoyles from growing up. Every gypsy clan had at least one clan of gargoyles that they protected and vice-versa.

"And what are you?" Giles challenged, he was getting fed up at not getting an answer from them. "You are clearly not fully human yourselves."

Jenny thought for a moment. "Alright. One freebie, as a show of good faith. We got hit with a spirit possession. Hyena."

"Good lord," Giles stepped forward automatically. "You must get it out! Those things are dangerous."

"Relax, English," Jenny said. "I made sure it was under control before I did anything else. Tonight was supposed to be a game of show and tell. Show the kids a vampire or two and tell them how to kill it. Not Angel, of course."

"And why not Angel? You said your 'tribe' cursed him? What does that mean?" Giles fired off questions rapidly.

"Nah, uh, uh. Your turn there, bucko," Jenny countered.

"Ooh! I know!" Willow raised her hand as if she were still in class. "Angel said he was cursed by Gypsies. That makes you a Gypsy, right?"

"We prefer the term 'Romany'," Jenny replied glumly. One less piece of information to trade. "Our turn now. How did you get turned into gargoyles?"

Amy stepped forward, with Xander right behind her as he chucked his apple core into the bushes. "My mom was a witch. She cast a spell that sounded like it would turn us to stone. Instead we woke up like this at sunset."

"And killing her clearly didn't work," Jenny said more to herself. She knew the easiest way to undo a curse was usually to kill the witch in question. Which was why she was very careful about who she cursed and how.

"And what are your plans now? Outside of Angel, that is. I dare say we could use some allies who are also trying to keep the denizens of the night in check. It seems we may have just broken our ties with the watchers council," Giles said. That was a bit of an understatement. They'd be lucky if Kendra wasn't actively hunting for them tomorrow.

Jenny's eyes flicked involuntarily to Buffy at the mention of the council. Giles caught the movement, and his lips thinned, but he said nothing at the moment. Jenny's eyes then flicked over her own group. "Our clan is new. This is our first night hunting, actually," she admitted. "We could use some backup ourselves."

"Hey, whatdaya know? Our clan is pretty darn new too," Xander said cheerfully.

"Yeah, I figured it formed right about the time you guys disappeared. That was, what? A little less than a month ago. And I want you to know, Rupert, that I never believed a word about you kidnapping and eating the kids."

"Oh. Why thank you," Giles said through clenched fangs. He knew, he just knew that the American media would-

"Sorry," Jenny chuckled and the Hyena clan laughed as well. "No one's saying that. I was just messing with you, Papa Smurf," she lied. Plenty were saying that, it was the second most popular rumor, right after Willow pulling a 'Carrie' and killing everyone with her mind, which was just silly in her opinion.

Giles sighed heavily, but did relax.

"So now what?" Jenny asked.

Giles looked around his clan and got either nods or shrugs from everyone. "Now, we question Angel again. A very powerful vampire called The Master is trying to raise, or may already have raised, a champion called the Anointed One."

"Annoying One is more like it," Buffy muttered.

Giles shot her a glance but went on. "We'd like to be very open with information about vampires and demons with you. The more we all know about our enemies, the better." Unsaid was: the less others—and, for now, each other—know about us and our weaknesses, the better.

"I agree," Jenny agreed with both points. "Alright, clan. Your first assignment tonight: I want you to track down Angel again and find his lair." Technically, Jenny already knew where Angel lived, but she wanted to see how her new clan did. It was also a show of good faith to the gargoyles, since she already knew quite a bit about them, their strengths, and their weaknesses. Showing them a bit about her own clan's powers was a trade for what she'd teach her clan about them later.

* * *

"Don't you know that you're supposed to leave a guy alone if he's carrying a butcher's bag?" Angel asked when he was accosted for a second time that night.

"Relax," Jenny comforted. "We're not going to kill you. We just want to ask you some questions. Tell us what you know about the Annoying One."

"Anointed," Giles corrected automatically.

"Anointed One. Whichever."

Angel smiled. He actually _had_ heard a few things. If there was one thing that demons loved more than causing suffering and pain, it was gossiping about suffering and pain. And the suffering and pain of the Master was as good to most demons as the suffering and pain of humans. The reason that the Master would put up with the things that this Anointed One were doing to him just had to be part of the gossip. "It was supposed to be a man. But it turned out it was a woman, and she's been driving the Master up the wall. Other than the prophecy that 'she will lead the Slayer to the Master'," his eyes flicked to Buffy, "there's no way he'd put up with her otherwise. But that's a moot point for you guys anyway. And that's really all I know."

"Wait. What?" Buffy said.

Angel shrugged. "I thought you knew. The Master called the Anointed One to try to get rid of the Slayer. I mean I can check some other-"

"Check them," Buffy ordered, her muscles going taught, which cause her wings to rise above her automatically, making her appear taller and more intimidating.

"Okay, okay. Settle." Angel looked around to see if anyone else looked ready to tear his heart out and was gladdened to see that everyone else looked calmer than Buffy did right now.

"We shall have to inform Sam of this," Giles said.

"We should probably tell Kendra first," Amy said. "We don't want Sam trying to keep this from her."

Giles nodded. "Quite right."

"Can I go now?" Angel asked. He was incredibly uncomfortable surrounded by people who didn't like him, but he couldn't kill.

"Very well. But first we need to know how to get in touch with you should we need more information," Giles agreed.

Angel took out a pen and a slip of paper. "Here's my number. Try not to call during the day. I usually sleep then."

"We'll try not to," Giles said, his voice betraying a hint of humor.

* * *

"What's this?" David Xanatos asked as a bill of lading from an unfamiliar company was laid on his desk.

"I've been making inquiries into that gargoyle clan in California. A little over a week ago, five large pieces of granite were delivered to the residence of one Joyce Summers of Sunnydale, California. She had a short history of art sales back in the 70's, though nothing recent. The name, the location, and the stones _could_ be all a coincidence, but it's unlikely," Owen dutifully reported his findings. He had wanted to wait a few more weeks, but the evidence came to him and he had to report it.

David thought for only a moment. "Cancel my appointments for tomorrow afternoon. Have my jet prepped and ready so that we'll land in Sunnydale shortly before sunset tomorrow."

"As you wish." Owen gathered up his papers and went to make the necessary preparations. And to call off the emergency prep of the jet he'd ordered thinking Xanatos would want to fly out immediately. He just hoped his 'children' were ready.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19.

"I don't want anyone to be under any delusions. Sam and Kendra likely regard us as enemies for standing between them and Angel. To say we are flying into hostile territory would be an understatement," Giles warned his clan. "Still, I want everyone to be on their best behavior. No taunting, no provoking, and no quipping," he said as he glanced meaningfully at Buffy.

"What?" she asked defensively. The others just shook their heads.

Giles went on. "Buffy, you and Amy will join me in going inside the flat. I wish to outnumber them but not make them feel overly threatened." Giles still had no true idea as to how a Slayer and a gargoyle would match up against each other. He and Zabuto had purposely _not_ set up any sparring sessions because both would rather keep the other in the dark about their true abilities. Giles had a slight advantage, having been trained as a watcher and having worked with a Slayer briefly, but dealing with two different preternatural beings who were both much stronger than humans, it was hard to compare except having them spar head to head. He wanted Buffy along since, after him, she had the most martial arts training and a familiarity with watcher training. He wanted her to match up with Sam, not Kendra though—her tendency to draw out fights and to quip would likely frustrate the uptight watcher. He wanted Amy along because he thought that her counter-punching fighting style would match up well against a Slayer of unknown strength and speed. He also wanted to keep Xander and Willow out of the first part of the fight. Xander was a brawler, which could be bad if Kendra proved significantly stronger or faster than them. And Willow was an excellent Vampire Slayer, but she hadn't had time to develop a fighting style for anything other than vampires, though her training in going straight for the kill would be perfect as a second wave attack.

"I will do the talking. And no matter what I say, please go along with it for now. We'll discuss everything later," Giles said somewhat ominously.

The other gargoyles looked at each other, but there really wasn't time to argue. They were already at Giles' old apartment.

* * *

Xander was hiding near the back windows and Willow near the front door when Giles rang the bell. Having the watcher not knowing where the other two gargoyles were was part of Giles' plan to avoid a fight if possible, and to win the fight if it came to it. He hoped knowing that reinforcements were near—but not knowing for sure where—would cause the other man to pause.

Giles also knew that the council took a dim view of cooperation with—or even tolerance for—non-humans. The fact that they used to be human was another point he was hoping would give them pause. Or at least give Kendra pause.

The door opened and the three gargoyles walked inside.

"Welcome," Sam said a bit over-cheerfully. "Can I get you something to eat? Drink?"

"No, thank you," Giles politely declined. He wasn't sure if the man might stoop to using poisons, but he wasn't taking any chances.

"What can we do for you then?" Sam got down to business. No one sat down.

"Several things. Though first, we have information for you regarding the Anointed One. It was lucky that Kendra was unsuccessful in killing our informant. After you left, we were able to _interrogate_ him, and he revealed some new information. Apparently, the Master has a prophecy regarding the Anointed One and the Slayer," Giles said. Both men's eyes flicked to Kendra for a moment. "Our informant is busy getting more details at the moment, but it sounds like the Anointed One might be prophesied to deliver the Slayer to the Master. The Anointed One is also, apparently, female."

Sam ground his teeth at that, sorry that he needed the Slayer as backup right now when he would have preferred her to have not heard that. "That is interesting," he allowed out loud. "I will be sure to research that more in depth. You'll be sure to keep us informed if your 'informant' turns up any new information?"

"Of course. Assuming you don't Slay him in the meantime. Then there was the next topic I wanted to bring up. You and Kendra are laying claim to the Hellmouth, correct?"

"The Hellmouth requires a guardian who is always available. If someone were to try to open it while you were sleeping..." Sam left that unsaid.

"And you wish us to leave?" Giles asked.

"I do," Sam said seriously.

"Very well then," Giles agreed. He was rather proud that only a twitch of her neck betrayed Buffy's surprise. Amy didn't flinch at all. "It will take time, of course. The usual rates for each of my clan, for relocation expenses. Double for Buffy. Also, the council will have to purchase Mrs. Summer's house as well."

"And why would we do that?"

"At double the price she paid," Giles finished. "And you'll do it, because Joyce's daughter died fighting evil for the council, and she deserves compensation for her suffering and for the inconvenience of moving out here due to her daughter being the Slayer, and then moving away again so soon."

"I will speak to the council," Sam offered.

"So be it, but the price goes up to triple what she paid in another five minutes, so I suggest you hurry," Giles smirked.

Sam fumed. "Very well, the council will pay double what Mrs. Summers paid for her house. And double the relocation fee for the _former_ Slayer," he agreed. He was going to take quite a bit of flack for taking that deal without going through the proper channels, but he hoped that the money he saved would be enough not to blot his record. He certainly didn't want to end up like Rupert Giles with a second rate Slayer who got him killed and/or transformed into some creature. "You wouldn't be trying to give me a black mark with the council, would you Rupert?" Sam asked icily.

"Wouldn't dream of it, old boy," Giles said evenly. "After all, wouldn't want you to end up like me," he finished, apparently reading Sam's mind.

"And then there is that other group we just met," Sam went on. "They will leave as well."

"I will deliver your demands and the offer of relocation help as well."

"They protected a vampire. They get no help!" Sam nearly shouted.

Giles shrugged. "Very well, you can deliver your own demands then. You might be interested to note that they were transformed, like us, during school hours at a school activity. If Kendra had been enrolled at the time, she might have prevented-"

"Enough!" Sam yelled, his hand on his machete. "Get out," he ordered, his voice nearly a whisper.

Giles bowed his head slightly in acquiescence. "Good night to you both." He motioned for the girls to exit as he backed up and didn't turn his back on the pair until he reached the front door.

* * *

"Giles," Buffy growled through clenched teeth. "Where exactly do you get off selling my mom's house out from under her? You never even asked her!"

"In point of fact, I did ask her. We've discussed it over the course of several nights, once it became apparent that the new watcher might be hostile. I understand she's made inquiries into getting her old job back in Los Angeles. _We_ didn't tell you," he cut off Buffy's interruption, "because we didn't want to worry you should our fears prove unfounded. Now that our fears have been proven correct, we can make concrete plans to leave."

"But, but, but..." Willow tried to think of a reason to stay. Friends, family, home. Nothing was coming to mind.

"Let us continue this discussion at Buffy's house. Joyce deserves her input as well," Giles said, ending all conversation for the rest of the flight. "For now, we must find Miss Calendar again and deliver Mr. Zabuto's ultimatum."

* * *

Miss Calendar shrugged and snorted in a very un-lady-like manner when told they would have to leave Sunnydale. "He expects us to just pack up and leave? Mid-semester, even? Not going to happen," she decided.

"Miss Calendar-" Giles began.

"Jenny," she corrected. "We're not in school any more, Rupert."

"Jenny," Giles gave in. "Mr. Zabuto views you and your clan as a threat. Sunnydale is not safe for you."

"I have a duty to watch Angelus and make sure he suffers for what he did to my tribe," Jenny stated.

"At the cost of your new clan?" Giles asked softly.

Jenny stopped and looked around at her new clan. None of them were laughing at the sobering news that a Vampire Slayer might be out to get them. The news of just how strong and fast the Slayer really was and how they'd only survived because they'd gotten in a lucky shot and the gargoyles had shown up had been hard to swallow. They no longer looked like a clan of super-powered demon hunters. They looked like the scared, adolescents they were inside. Jenny slumped her shoulders in defeat.

"What'll happen to Angel?" Buffy was the one who spoke up. He _had_ helped her after all.

"Well, I expect that without our two clans to intervene, he will eventually be slain," Giles admitted.

"What if he left too?" Amy asked.

Jenny perked up at that. If Angel left, she would _have_ to follow. Her tribe would pay for all the relocation expenses. And they were no strangers to spirit possessions. The tribe would take in the four children in her clan as well. She and Giles shared a 'this might work' look.

"The watchers council has a fund for relocation expenses for displaced hunters. The Slayer never seems to work well with others," Giles said, though he was beginning to wonder if it was the watchers who didn't work well with others. "You're free to try to negotiate for some help, though Sam is a bit prejudiced at the moment. But if you can convince Angel to leave as well...?"

Jenny nodded eagerly. Her clan picked up on her body language and perked up as well. "Alright guys. Sniff out Angel's lair for me."

The gargoyles followed the other clan out of Jenny's apartment. As the Hyena Clan left to find Angel yet again, the gargoyles took off to tell Joyce that her home had been sold out from under her.

* * *

Joyce took the news that she might have to move in stride, but was pleasantly surprised that Giles had negotiated a very nice 'severance package' for her and Buffy. The extra money would be nice, but the real savings was in time and energy trying to find a buyer for her Sunnydale house. Especially finding one whom she wouldn't mind dooming to a life on the Hellmouth.

There was a bit of an argument between mother and daughter, with Buffy accusing her mom of keeping plans for the move from her.

After that was settled, Buffy turned to Giles. "Giles, what did you mean, 'wouldn't want you to end up like me'?"

"Excuse me?"

"With Zabooboo."

Giles didn't even bother correcting her. "Ah," he turned to study a painting on the wall. "I would rather not go into the intricacies of council politics, but suffice to say that due to some indiscretions in my youth, I am not high up on the chain of command. I was quite surprised when I was assigned to the active Slayer.

"I do have one ally in the council. Her name is Diana Dormer, and last I heard, she was assigned to a potential Slayer on the East Coast. If and when we visit the other clan, I had planned on visiting her and her charge as well. _After_ calling to warn her, of course." Giles was fairly sure, or perhaps hoped, that she wouldn't be as put off by their appearance as Sam was.

* * *

The flight to LA had run into an unexpected headwind and had taken longer than planned. The sun was already setting when David Xanatos and Owen disembarked from their plane in LA.

"This way, Mr. Xanatos," a man in a flight suit led them from the steps of the private plane to a waiting helicopter. They all climbed in and the man, who was hopefully the pilot, started the pre-flight checklist. David was in a hurry, but he wasn't quite stupid enough to try to skip the safety checklist. At least not in an aircraft he was about to ride in.

As they cleared LA airspace, the traffic in the air thinned very quickly. The flight was made in silence. Xanatos wasn't about to share much anyway, and the pilot knew better than to pry. Xanatos watched out the windshield and windows to see if he could glimpse a gargoyle in flight.

"Huh," the pilot said as they were nearing Sunnydale.

"What is it?" Xanatos asked, hoping the pilot had seen something he couldn't explain.

"There's no one in the tower. Just the automated weather report," the pilot said.

"Is that unusual for a town of this size?" Xanatos honestly had no idea.

"A town this size? This close to LA? I've flown here a dozen times during the day and figured they could stay open all night if they wanted. Further from a major city, you sometimes see airports of this size closed, say, from Midnight to 5AM. Depends if they're the major airport in the area or not. But I've never seen a staffed airport close this early."

"Interesting," Xanatos filed that information away for later thought. A lack of air traffic at night could certainly be a contributing reason for the gargoyle clan picking this city rather than the much larger one with taller buildings nearby. However, that just raised the new question as to _why_ the airport was closed so early. "I assume you have enough fuel to make it back?"

The pilot double checked his gauges before answering. "Yes, sir. We'll be fine. We just have to make one pass around the airport for regulation's sake since it's closed, before we can land."

"I don't know how long I'll be in town. I'll call your people when I wish to be picked up. It will be during the day, probably early morning."

"I look forward to it, sir."

* * *

"Huh," Amy said, looking up into the night sky.

"Something interesting?" Giles asked.

"A helicopter just took off from the airport. I can't remember the last time I saw that at night. I didn't think it was even open at night," Amy said.

"It isn't," Willow confirmed.

"Did someone land tonight?" Buffy wondered.

"I doubt we would have noticed." Amy pointed out. "It's been an exciting night. And we haven't been in the air that much."

"Should we check out the airport?" Buffy put forward.

Giles had been contemplating the fact that he hadn't considered how little air traffic there was in Sunnydale after hours. Los Angeles would have a great deal of air traffic they would have to avoid. However, most of what might affect the heights they we would be flying at would be in fairly predictable and regulated patterns. Still it would bear research soon. "I doubt that would be productive. Whomever it was has likely just left. Still, it is a good time to remind all of you that LA will have a good deal more air traffic and you must be more aware of your surroundings in the air than you have been. All of us, including me, have likely grown a bit too complacent in that area."

* * *

"Zachary didn't return from the hunt last night," the Master said as Darla entered his cave.

Darla frowned. "The Slayer or the new hunters?"

"I know not. Which is what is so frustrating. Zachary was strong, and he was careful. And still he is taken from us... as so many of my family have been recently." The Master took a breath he didn't need. "It wears thin. Tod, what would you do about it?"

"We know the hunters fly. Bring them down here and annihilate them."

"Out of the mouths of babes..." the Master grinned.

Darla frowned. It sounded great in theory but difficult in practice. "But how do we get them down here?"

"Simple, use the Slayer as bait," Tod said as if it were obvious.

"Let me do it, Master. Let me kill her for you," Darla begged. Slayers, she could handle.

"We need her alive if she is to be bait," the Master pointed out.

Darla pouted. "Technically, we just don't want them to know that she's dead."

"I will send the Three."

Darla was intrigued. That was certainly calling in the heavy hitters, and none too soon in her book, either.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20.

David Xanatos was not a happy man. He had been out most of the night, scanning the skies with night-vision and infrared goggles hoping to find gargoyles, but found nothing. And though he was rich, he didn't like to think of himself as pampered. But there was almost nothing open in this town at night. He couldn't rent a car, he couldn't call a cab—it was nearly impossible to get a hotel room, even. There wasn't a single 5-star hotel in the town, but David had had to pay more than the cost of a suite at one of the nicest hotels he owned, just for a double room at a crappy hotel.

But Owen had insisted. Apparently there were dangerous creatures about in this town. Though neither of them were pushovers in the martial arts and both of them were armed, when Owen insisted about something like his personal safety, Xanatos listened. He watched as Owen finished performing a ritual by the door to the room.

"That will keep anything intending us harm out," Owen explained as he stood up and smoothed out the lines of his suit.

"Such as?" Xanatos raised an eyebrow. Just because he was willing to go along with Owen's insistence didn't mean he didn't want to know why. Actually, since Owen insisted so little, it actually piqued his interest all the more.

"I sensed a Fyarl Demon nearby. Not the brightest demon ever, but very strong. And immune to nearly everything but silver. And I didn't think to pack any silver weapons. I apologize," Owen said.

"But that spell you did will keep it out?" Xanatos confirmed.

"It's called a ward, and it will keep out anything except the most powerful of witches or Oberon's Children," Owen nodded. "And I picked this hotel and this room because this window gives a view of 63% of Sunnydale's skyline, so we can continue our search, should you wish it."

He did.

* * *

In the morning, Xanatos called the helicopter to pick them up and take them to LA. Sunnydale was only a few hours outside the LA metro area, but David Xanatos wasn't about to drive into that city in rush hour traffic. And it was actually cheaper to hire the helicopter, pick up the things they needed, and rent a car for the drive back than it was to get everything they wanted shipped same-day to Sunnydale. It was the shipping charges that made costs outrageous.

Included in their new supplies were blessed sliver daggers and silver bullets, along with a case of tasers. Electricity would disable most things while only killing a few. That was an important consideration since they were visitors, unaware of the local politics. It would be a shame to kill something that roared at them out of the darkness, only to find that the roar was that species' way of saying 'hello'.

They also rented a car to drive themselves back to Sunnydale. The roads heading _out_ of LA were practically empty, so the drive back was pleasant and short. Having a car would also make them more mobile the next night. Xanatos had insisted on a convertible, but Owen had countered that a power moon roof would give them many of the advantages they sought, with added protection if they were attacked in their car. So they compromised and got the moon roof.

When they got back to the hotel, the clerk refunded them much of the money they'd paid for the night before. Apparently, it was some sort of late-night-arrival deposit.

* * *

The first nice day in a week found Cordelia eating her lunch on the edge of the fountain in the courtyard with her Cordettes. Well, technically it was a fountain. They hadn't actually run water through it since before Cordelia had been born. Too many pranks. If kids weren't filling with Jello or something worse, then they were peeing in it or throwing garbage in it. Now it was just a concrete tub that collected leaves each fall and gave kids a nice place to sit and eat their lunch.

Cordelia ate her salad, hardly tasting it and not listening to the mindless chatter going on around her. She'd run into Jono in the hall and verbally took him apart; and yet, she didn't feel any better. He hadn't cringed, or cried, or any of the sad, loserly, pathetic stuff he usually did. In fact, he'd smiled at her. Quite creepily. She had half a mind to report him to Principal Flutie. Except that he probably wouldn't do anything about it. She'd gone off in search of her next favorite target, Marcie, instead. But the little skank was nowhere to be found. Apparently, she'd found somewhere other than the band room to hide out.

She sighed and forked another bite of salad with diet, non-fat dressing into her mouth. She had just swallowed when a huge BOOM echoed across the courtyard and the back of her head was sprayed by something warm and wet. A huge weight fell on her and she toppled to the ground.

* * *

"_That_ is what happens to all bullies eventually. Someone gets fed up and snaps. Cordelia was lucky that two people snapped at the same time and got in each other's way. That could have very easily been _you_ Jonathan was aiming for. Or that an invisible Marcie brought a knife to school for," Miss Calendar lectured her clan. It was a good teaching point. "No more picking on others. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Jenny," the other four intoned.

Jenny sighed. At least 'Jenny' was her name... after a fashion. It sure as heck beat 'Fearless Leader', the name they had tried to call her at first.

* * *

Giles had Amy and Willow with him the next night. He left his two 'brawlers' to patrol on their own. Hopefully they kept each other out of trouble. But he didn't want the fighting styles of those two to influence this new clan if he could help it. They weren't likely to be as durable as slayers or gargoyles.

It turned out that the Hyena clan was even rawer than he'd guessed. Miss Calendar had neglected to begin training them in even the most rudimentary martial arts. Her excuse that she had been helping them deal with their changes cut no ice with him. He'd helped his own clan adjust to far bigger changes and taught them martial arts at the same time.

She did at least have them all carrying a minimum of one stake apiece.

After warm-ups and a few drills, Giles stepped up to spar against the one known as Kyle. He certainly appeared the most confident and the de facto second in command. At a guess, he was the leader of the children before Jenny and the Hyena joined the group.

"Enough!" Giles called. The young man stopped fighting and walked over to his friends holding his side where Giles had clipped him gently.

Jenny cringed. That had been ugly. Giles had been playing with Kyle like a cat plays with a mouse. And Kyle was the best of her clan. "So, verdict?"

Giles wasn't even breathing hard. It wasn't that they weren't strong or fast, but Giles was stronger, at least as fast, and fully trained. There was no contest. He judged they would be on equal footing with recently risen vampires. "The Primal possession was used by tribesmen to give trained warriors a boost in order to compete with supernatural predators. The keywords being _trained warriors_. Expecting children to suddenly be able to take down vampires simply because they are stronger and faster than a human is... implausible," Giles studiously ignored his own hypocrisy and that of the watchers council. Slayers were measurably faster and stronger than vampires, for one thing.

"So, no killing vampires?" Rhonda asked.

Giles shook a talon at her. "I didn't say that. I would suggest a few months of intense training before you go seeking out another fight. Miss Calendar, you certainly have the skills needed to train them in the basics, and if you need advanced training after that, I'm sure you can find someone in LA willing to help. But for now, there's no reason to be unprepared. We will teach you one move that may save your lives one day; a technique that is taught to all watchers. Done correctly by a human, this move will best 95% of vampires who have never seen it. Your clan should have no problem pulling it off."

He, Willow, and Amy all walked them through the technique of palming a stake, walking calmly up to a vampire, and stabbing him quickly with an upwards thrust _under_ the ribcage instead of trying to power through it.

"Surprise is your greatest ally when performing this move. You don't have to be faster than a vampire for this to work, simply faster than the vampire is _expecting_ you to be. The most important part," Giles said, "is to strike quickly and without mercy. This is a dangerous game you've entered, and the prize for second place is death." He left Willow and Amy in charge of the training while he and Jenny had a quiet word.

"This thing with the Anointed One, I think it's going to happen soon," Jenny began. "There have been portents. A cat last week gave birth to a litter of snakes. A family was swimming in Whisper Lake when the lake suddenly began to boil. And just today, two people tried to kill Cordelia Chase."

"One assumes they'd met her?" Giles deadpanned. He had heard several horror stories about the Chase girl from both Willow and Amy over the last few weeks.

"I'm serious. Two of the most mild-mannered kids you ever knew suddenly decided to try to kill the same person. Luckily for Cordelia, Marcie walked up behind her just as Jon pulled the trigger. Marcie was pronounced at the scene and the cops got to Jonathan after he used another bullet on himself. They found a note complaining about bullying, but not much else."

"And Cordelia?"

"Her parents are suing the school, of course. Their little 'angel' couldn't have been so mean as to cause two people to try to kill her," Jenny scoffed.

Giles just raised an eyebrow.

Jenny threw up her hands. "Fine, maybe the last isn't a sign of the Apocalypse. But I'm just letting you know to be on your toes. Something _is_ coming. And considering how you just manhandled my clan, I really want _you_ to be ready for it.

"Noted," Giles assured her.

They drilled for several more hours after that, until the Hyena clan, having to get up in the morning for school, called it a night.

"Thank you, Rupert. For all your help," Jenny said with a warm smile, laying a hand gently on his shoulder.

Giles returned the smile with a fearsome one of his own and nodded.

* * *

"Giles, we might have trouble. I think we're being followed," Buffy's voice came over the radio.

"Followed?" Giles repeated.

"There's a black Mercedes that's been following us for a while. License plate 1 Alpha Bravo Kangaroo 982."

"We're on our way, we'll stay low. Also 'K' is 'Kilo' not 'Kangaroo'. Remind me to teach all of you the military phonetic alphabet later. And are you sure they're following you?" Giles asked.

"There's not much traffic. Kinda hard to miss," Buffy pointed out.

* * *

The proper height for patrolling had been the subject for much furious debate amongst the gargoyles. Buffy, with her gigantic wings, wanted to patrol as high as possible to see the whole town at once. The downside with that plan was that the whole city would be able to see them too, just by looking up. Plus, there was a limit to what eyes, whether human or gargoyle, could take in at once. Similarly, they didn't want to fly too low. Dodging trees, houses, and especially power lines was not fun, and rather dangerous. Plus, if you were that low, you were vulnerable to attack from the ground.

Thus, a standard patrol height was reached. High enough not to hit any trees or power lines, but not much more than 20 feet higher than the tallest buildings in Sunnydale. Which generally gave them a good view and enough extra oomph when they dove in attack.

Which meant that Giles was very out of practice at flying low. He almost hit two buildings and a parked semi-trailer on his way to meeting Xander and Buffy.

"Giles, are you sure you haven't been drinking?" Amy joked. "Those were some pretty close calls."

Giles sighed. "No, I assure you- What's this?"

"What's this" turned out to be three vampires walking out in the open. Granted, it was a pretty narrow alley they were in. But they were carrying a woman's body. Said body moaned and twitched, revealing her face.

"That's Kendra!" Willow realized.

"Radio Xander and Buffy over here quickly!" Giles ordered Willow before he and Amy dove into the narrow lane.

* * *

_Armor is cheating, _Amy decided. And she didn't like it when the other side cheated. That was her group's job.

Giles had landed on one vampire and jumped from there onto another, driving his stake into the second vamp's chest. Except that the vampire hadn't dusted, just backhanded a surprised Giles into the wall.

Amy had been following Giles down and was going for the one carrying Kendra, but when she saw Giles take that hit, she adjusted her course and hit the one who was about to follow up his first blow instead. She sent him flying. A crash behind her caused her to turn as one vamp tossed Kendra into a trash heap. As he advanced, the one that Giles had nearly crushed was also getting up.

There was a roar behind her and Amy got to see Willow knock the vamp behind her to the ground. Her own attempt at staking was no more successful than Giles' had been. Amy turned back- and all thought was driven from her mind as her face exploded in pain. She had thought that 'seeing stars' was a euphemism or something that happened in cartoons, but now she knew better. The stars sure were pretty. But she didn't get to see them long before another fist slammed into her gut. Her arms, which had flown instinctively up to her face, now went down to protect her stomach as the air was driven from her lungs. And a fist went back to her unprotected face. It probably would have gone on like that if someone hadn't intervened.

Amy could no longer see clearly; blood, tears, and pain obscured her vision; but it could only be Giles fighting. And having been given a few seconds to recover, he came out swinging. An inhuman roar pierced the night as Giles struck. The power behind the blow combined with Giles' knowledge of fighting easily shattered the demon's jaw, which the demon immediately brought his arms up to protect. Giles gave him two more body blows before kicking him away; the other two vampires were approaching.

Amy looked over to Willow in a panic. If her vampire was here, then... Willow didn't look good. One of her wings was obviously broken, but she couldn't see well enough to tell if she was breathing or not. Amy crawled over to her friend until she was satisfied that Willow's chest was still moving. She looked back to see the fight again.

Giles was _good_. She hadn't really realized just how good he was until now, as he mostly let the kids do the hunting. In the back of her mind, Amy wondered just how many years Giles had been studying martial arts. Amy considered herself a pretty good fighter now. She'd been training for a month and had several dozen kills to her credit. But none of them were like these guys. She'd been defeated so easily. And yet, Giles was still standing against two of them. No mean feat, as Amy could tell you from personal experience.

The third vampire was also picking himself up. He gingerly reset his jaw, looked at Giles, then at Amy, and started towards the girls. Amy forced herself to stand up despite the pain she was in. She glanced around before the vampire got to her and realized she was trapped. Even if she was willing to leave Willow and Giles behind, the alley was too narrow for her to fully spread her wings. She wasn't flying out of here. If she had the time, she probably could have climbed one of the walls, but she didn't have that kind of time. The vampire was almost on top of her.

Amy danced to the side to get a little room. She tried jabbing at his jaw, but the vamp wasn't going to let anything hit his injured bone again. On the plus side, he was being very defensive, which meant he wasn't landing many blows either. Still, Amy was getting punched more than she'd ever been hit in her life. She had never been so relieved to hear a gargoyle's roar.

"Buffy, help Giles!" she yelled without looking up. Buffy was their best fighter after Giles, and she hoped the former Slayer would be in time to make a difference in that fight.

Xander came down right on top of where the vampire Amy was fighting had been a second ago. His look of surprise clearly told he hadn't been expecting to miss. But he didn't let that stop him. A quick elbow spike to the gut caught the demon by surprise in return and opened up a wound, though the howl they heard wasn't from the vamp.

Amy chanced a quick glance backwards to see that Giles was a lot closer now than when she'd last looked, and he also looked very beat up. His left arm hung limply at his side, flopping about as the rest of his body moved. His right wing also hung wrongly, clearly broken. Whatever happened, they weren't flying out of here tonight.

She turned back in time to see Xander spin his tail at the opponent. It was a unique move and most vampires were surprised by it since most fighters never fought something with such a large and powerful tail. But not this one. He caught Xander's tail, then pulled him off balance and grabbed a wing instead. He traded receiving another blow to his jaw in exchange for breaking Xander's wing. Xander bellowed in pain as the vamp staggered back from the blow he'd received.

Amy took the opportunity to attack and actually drove him back a few paces with her own powerful blows before he took control again and was driving her back, in return. Suddenly, he dropped to his knees in spasms. He fell on his face, still shaking, and Amy could see why. Sticking out of his back, two leads were attached to wires that led to a blond man in a blue suit and red tie.

His voice was nearly a monotone but edged with just the hint of a smile, "I've always wanted to say this; come with me if you want to live." Behind him, a black car at the end of the alley had the two doors facing her open. The man walked up to her and handed her the stun gun. "Just keep holding down the button until I rescue the rest of your clan."

Amy did as she was told and quickly pressed the trigger. She was rewarded by the vampire spazzing on the ground. "Xander, can you help Willow?" she nodded to the car.

Xander was clearly in pain, but he nodded. He went over, picked Willow up, and sat her down on the passenger seat.

Amy turned her attention back to Giles' fight. Except Giles was out of the fight. It had been two on one again until the stranger showed up. At least Buffy didn't look like her wings were injured. The blond man tasered first one and then the other vampire. Buffy muttered her thanks to him, then went to collect Giles. Seeing Buffy carry the blue gargoyle like an overgrown baby was so weird that Amy almost burst out laughing. But even the smile that image brought to her face hurt.

Buffy gently slid Giles into the car and over to the other side before buckling him in. She sat down in the space between his legs and the driver's seat. "Okay! We're in!"

Amy looked over at the stranger then remembered, "Wait! Where's Kendra?" She looked over at the pile of garbage she'd been dumped on, but her body was gone. There was no way any of the vamps they'd been fighting could have done something to it.

"There's no one else here," the blond man said from her side. "I'm sorry, but we must go. These batteries won't last." With that, he dropped his tasers and walked calmly back to the car. Amy followed him, only slightly limping. He let Amy get in first then got in after her. It was a tight squeeze, almost every inch of room in the car was being used.

"We're all in, Mr. Xanatos."

* * *

A/N: On compromise: My girlfriend wanted a cat, but I didn't want a cat. So we compromised and got a cat.

A/N2: I don't know how Joss got away with Jonathan telling people that he'd climbed to the highest point in the school with a high-powered assassin's rifle, but was only going to commit suicide. I think that episode came with an extra gullibility pill.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: In the original story, you may remember that Giles knew who The Three were. What you might not remember is that it took him six hours of research to find that out. Hence the lack of knowledge here.

Well, this is it. My longest completed story to date. Please take a minute to let me know what you think. If it was good, go ahead and hit that 'favorite' link at the bottom of the page.

* * *

Chapter 21.

"We are _so_ getting tasers as backup weapons," Buffy said in the silence of the very crowded car ride.

"Where to?" the driver of the car asked. Zan-something.

Buffy looked up at Amy and nodded, "Mom's house." She cringed. She didn't really want to invite strangers into her mother's house but they'd be moving soon anyway. Also, her mother was going to freak when she saw how beat up everyone was.

Amy was the one who had to give directions. Willow and Giles were both unconscious and Xander and Buffy were sitting at the feet of the unconscious ones.

"By the way, I'm David, and this is Owen," the driver, David introduced.

"Xander. And this is Willow," Xander introduced.

"I'm Amy. Those two are Buffy and Giles," Amy said.

"I had heard that gargoyles didn't believe in naming themselves," David said.

A look passed between Amy and Buffy, the only two gargoyles that could see each other, that he knew what gargoyles were before he saved them was... worrying? Comforting? Good luck? The vampires didn't exactly look human, but they looked more human than the gargoyles. It would have been entirely possible for them to side with the vamps before figuring out their mistake. That had happened on patrol before; humans running into the arms of vampires for protection from the gargoyles. It never ended well for the humans.

"Yeah, well, we're different from most gargoyles," Buffy said. "As you'll figure out when you meet my mother."

Amy's directions and the occasional sound of the blinker blinking were all the sounds made for the rest of the drive. Once they arrived, Owen got out first followed by Amy. Owen went around to help Buffy out of the front seat and Amy helped Xander out of the back, being careful not to jostle his broken wing. As soon as Xander was out, he turned around to carry Willow.

"Xander, let me," Amy softly laid a hand on the shoulder with the unbroken wing.

"I can do this," Xander insisted.

"I know, but you don't have to. I don't have any broken limbs. Let me," Amy said.

Xander turned to face her. "And I don't look like I just went 15 rounds with Mike Tyson." But Amy just stared at him. Finally, he relented. He turned and walked past Buffy, who was again carrying Giles, and opened the door for them. As he did so, he hit the doorbell a couple of times. It was well after their usual visiting hours and Joyce deserved to know they were there and had brought guests.

When Amy got inside with Willow, Giles had already been laid face-down on the couch. She laid Willow face-down on the love seat, letting her long legs hang off the end.

There were footsteps followed by a gasp as Joyce came down the stairs. "Buffy! What happened?!" Joyce rushed over to her daughter and enveloped her in a firm, but gentle, hug.

* * *

David Xanatos felt like he was intruding on a very private moment. Not that he was going to let that stop him, nor was he going to let it bother him for very long. But it was very odd seeing a young gargoyle; he realized she was a gargoyle sub-adult, or very young adult; hug her _human_ mother.

He cleared his throat.

"Oh! Mom, these are the guys that saved us tonight. David and Owen. Guys, this is my mom, Joyce. Mom, they were about to explain why they were following us tonight," Buffy said overly sweetly as she fixed Xanatos with a steely gaze.

Xanatos smiled. So, they _had_ been made. Owen had thought so. Still, nothing bought bygones like a heroic rescue. He flashed his most charming smile at the woman. "David Xanatos," he shook her hand. Wait for it... There was the pause, the recognition, the eyes widening. He never got tired of that.

"David Xanatos, the billionaire?" Joyce wondered.

He let out a small chuckle at that. He stopped when the pressure on his hand increased.

"So, Mr. Xanatos, why _exactly_ were you following my daughter?"

Xanatos carefully extracted his hand. "If I may? Owen."

Owen produced a briefcase and pulled out a file folder. He opened the folder to show that it contained pictures. Pictures of gargoyles.

"They've named themselves the Manhattan Clan. And like you, they've also chosen to take names. Goliath, Hudson, Brooklyn, Lexington, and Broadway. And this is Bronx, a gargoyle-beast who's also part of their clan," Xanatos pointed to each in their turn.

"Does that make you a gargoyle groupie?" Xander quipped. He might have been in pain, but his mind was still sharp.

"Or just a stalker?" Buffy finished.

"I admit, I do have something of a fascination with gargoyles. Though, I prefer not to be called a stalker. The Manhattan clan _was_ cursed after all. And it was only through my own efforts that they live again."

"Cursed?" the three awake and aware gargoyles perked up.

"Yes. A thousand years ago, a mage cursed them into a permanent stone sleep. I broke the curse by bringing them to America. Your clan was cursed as well?" Xanatos surmised from their sudden interest.

"Ours was... different," Xander said, slightly disappointed.

* * *

The Three knelt before the Master in penance. All looked the worse for wear. One had a broken jaw, another a gut wound that was slowly healing, all were badly bruised and slightly singed.

"You were sent to bring me back the Slayer and you failed," the Master began. "However, seeing as Tod fulfilled her own prophesy by bringing me the Slayer while you kept our winged friends busy, and handed them a thrashing they won't soon forget, I'm willing to overlook your failure of your specific goals in light of the fact that the Slayer's blood will soon set me free." He picked up the limp form of the Slayer and bent over her neck. He received an ineffectual blow from Kendra, who had managed to wake up a bit. He backhanded her back into oblivion. But he saw something as she fell. He turned to Tod. "You drank from her!"

"It was a long trip, and she started waking up. I only had enough to keep her weak!" Tod defended.

The Master turned back to the Three, "New plan. You and Tod fight it out. The winner lives." He then set about draining the – already partially drained – Vampire Slayer dry. He even had Darla hold the girl's legs up to help the blood flow to her neck. When she was completely empty, he licked his lips and shouted to the ceiling. "Oh, God! The power!" he exclaimed as an earthquake racked the west coast.

He tried the magical field holding him prisoner. His hand broke through and the prison that had held him for decades came down in a shower of light and magic. He glanced back to see that the Three had taken care of Tod. Nodding at them; he, The Three, Darla, and Marcus all started the trip up to the surface, gathering followers along the way.

* * *

"Why do I have a bad feeling about that?" Buffy said once the earthquake stopped. They'd lost a few knickknacks from the fireplace mantle, but nothing too bad.

"This _is_ California. I'm told earthquakes are somewhat common out here," Xanatos said. Though his lack of easy demeanor was telling for someone who took everything in stride.

"Actually, sir, I believe Miss Summers is right. That was no ordinary earthquake. Definitely mystical in origin."

Before Owen could go on, a groan escaped from Giles' lips.

"Giles!" Buffy knelt by his side.

"Buffy. Where are we?" Giles didn't open his eyes. It wasn't clear if he could, with both of them quite swollen at the time.

"My house. Try not to speak. Here," she turned his head and held a glass of water to her lips.

Giles took a sip. "Did we win? Amy? Willow?"

Buffy wondered if she imagined just a touch of extra tenderness at Willow's name. "Everyone's alive," she assured him. "Willow's still unconscious. Xander has a broken wing. Amy and I are fine." Okay, so the last part was a bit of a fib but 'fine' was a sliding scale and what he couldn't see wouldn't hurt him. "We couldn't find Kendra after the fight."

"They have the Slayer. This could be very bad," Giles said. "Those were no ordinary vampires we faced tonight. The Master must have wanted the Slayer very badly. If he wanted her that badly, that may mean that she could be the key to freeing him and opening the Hellmouth."

"Would opening the Hellmouth cause an earthquake?" Buffy asked. But in her heart, she already knew the answer.

"Likely, yes," Giles finally cracked his eyes open at that. At the faces of those around him and the fact that the question was broached at all, Giles realized what had happened while he was unconscious. "Oh dear. You _must_ go to Sam with this information."

"Doesn't he, you know, hate us?" Xander had to ask.

"We must inform him, if nothing else. For one, he has the books necessary for research. Also, he's been researching the Master for a while now. And finally, I hope that a danger to Kendra might cause him to forget what we are. 'Enemy of my enemy' and all that," Giles said. "And perhaps you could find those hyenas or Angel. They have just as much to lose if the Hellmouth opens as we do. Whatever you do though, stick together. Don't separate for any reason."

"If they're opening the Hellmouth, where is it going to open?" Amy asked.

* * *

"Tell me we brought it."

"It's in the trunk, sir."

* * *

When she first woke each night, Buffy had the energy to jump from the grass to the top of her house easily. If she had wanted to, at such times, she probably could have made it to the top of the chimney from a standing start on the ground, but hadn't seen a reason to do so yet. Tonight, she climbed the stairs inside the house and climbed out her old window to get to the roof because she didn't trust her legs to get her from the grass to the roof. The excuse she used though, was to pick up more weapons. She had a trunk in her room still that held a large number of anti-vampire weapons which she and Amy split, including the javelins they had retired after getting the crossbows.

Once they were airborne, Buffy scanned the air currents for any updrafts.

"Buffy, look!" Amy caught her attention. Angel was not her favorite person in the world, but any ally right now would be a true friend in her book. Speaking of books, he was sitting on a tombstone reading one in the dark. She and Buffy landed nearby.

"Hi," he said nervously. Then he really looked at them and stood up. "What happened?" he asked, clearly distressed at how they looked.

"Vampires," Buffy said bluntly. "Three of them, wearing armor."

Angel winced in sympathy. "That would be The Three. Is everyone okay?"

"What an original name. Everyone survived, but the others are pretty banged up," Buffy let the news that she and Amy were the healthy ones in the group sink in. "They had Kendra though, and we couldn't find her when we ran."

Angel licked his lips and swallowed nervously. "Then that earthquake..."

"Giles thinks it was the Master breaking free," Amy said.

Angel scowled but nodded. "He'll open the Hellmouth. We need to run." He turned towards his apartment. He'd need a few things, like the blood in his fridge.

"What? No! We _need_ to fight!" Buffy countered. "And we could use your help."

* * *

"Bandage my wing," Xander ordered.

"Excuse me?" Joyce asked, jolted from where she was watching the dark town from her big, bay window.

"Bandage may wing, _please_. I can't do it on my own," Xander pleaded.

Joyce gave a small smile. "I appreciate you trying to help my daughter. But your wing is broken. You're not going to be much good in a fight."

"Except that I'm going anyway, whether you bandage me up or not," he insisted.

"It's okay, Joyce. Please do as he says," Giles said from the couch.

"But-"

"Bandage both wings while you're at it." At a look from Xander, Giles explained, "It will disguise which wing is actually broken, making your wounded one half as likely to be targeted. And more importantly, it will make sure you don't forget and try to fly with only one wing. That would likely be catastrophic."

"This won't be my first night with a broken limb," Xander said.

Joyce sighed, remember Buffy's story about him facing down a bear single handedly. She wasn't going to be able to stop him, she knew. "Come out to the garage. I think I have something out there I can use as a splint. And some duct tape."

* * *

"A ring?" Joyce picked a small ring of metal out of Xander's elbow spike. Both were covered in blood.

Xander took a look. "Chainmail. I knew they were wearing armor. But at least now we know one way to get through it."

"Considering how torn up your elbow looks, I think we might want to try another way first. Meet me by Mr. Giles. I'll only be a minute," she said as she went back inside the house proper.

"Um... that's-" Xander started when Joyce returned.

"A thirty eight special, hammerless revolver. I've had it for a while, but I don't carry it much. The guy making our own chainmail warned me that it wasn't bulletproof at all. Hopefully theirs isn't either." She handed it over and frowned. "I didn't think about how big your hands are."

Xander took the gun and nearly chuckled at how small the revolver looked in his palm. Getting his finger into the trigger guard without shooting himself would be a challenge. "Hopefully I'll find a human to give it to, then," he said before tucking it away.

Joyce walked him to the front door and winced in sympathy as he flexed his wings. "How will you get there? You can't fly," she said as he headed out the front door.

"Then I'll walk."

"Let me drive you," Joyce went for her keys in a bowl by the door.

Xander stopped her, "Take care of Willow for me."

"It's a long walk. What happens if you get too tired before you find them?"

"If I can't walk, I'll crawl."

"And if you can't crawl?" Joyce asked.

"Then I'll find a vampire willing to carry me to the Master's feet," Xander stated with deadly seriousness as he turned and headed in the direction he'd seen Buffy and Amy fly off in.

* * *

Giles had gotten himself up from the couch and, with Joyce's help, had reset his dislocated shoulder and gotten both of his wings bandaged like Xander. She admonished him against going out to fight as well. He then admitted that he also had a broken leg and several cracked ribs. "I assure you, I am in no shape to fight at the moment. And I'm worried about Willow. I have no idea what meeting the sunrise while knocked unconscious will do to a gargoyle. Or if she suffered a truly horrible concussion and has severe brain damage. I also have no idea if stone sleep can heal something like that. Suffice to say, I would like her to receive a full measure of sunlight tomorrow. That will probably help her the most."

"Anything else we can do?"

"We watch her. And we get my books. Perhaps there is something we missed," Giles hoped.

* * *

Buffy and Amy turned at what sounded like a dozen bottle rockets all firing at once. It turned out to be a gargoyle made of metal, and firing small jet engines to help itself land. Buffy and Amy fell into fighting stances on either side of it, not sure what to make of the latest development.

"Don't attack," a male voice said. "I'm here to help." With that, he took off the gargoyle shaped helmet and revealed that it was David Xanatos wearing red gargoyle armor.

Buffy walked up and pointed a very sharp claw in his face. "I'm not in the best of moods, Dave. So tell me you're here in that armor to fight, or go away, right now."

"I'm here to fight, and to help." He couldn't nod with Buffy's talon in the way.

"Fine, but after this is all done, you and I are going to have a serious talk about your gargoyle fetish. And tell me that's not modeled on a _specific_ gargoyle. Wait, is that one of the male gargoyles you showed us before? Your fetish is for a _male_ gargoyle? Eww!" She turned away, shaking her hands around her head, trying to get certain thoughts out of there.

Amy ignored Buffy's problem with homosexual-inter-species relationships. "You're a billionaire, you're really going to risk your life to fight with us?"

"I'm a businessman. If the world ends, so does my money," David answered. He held up the Goliath mask. "And my... fetish isn't sexual in nature. Fetish simply means a strong desire for something. Goliath is the single greatest warrior the earth has ever known. I built this armor to match him exactly, to see how we would stack up given equal footing."

"You want to prove yourself against him," Amy stated, understanding. "It's going to take more than just one more gargoyle to stop this, though. Do you have any more tasers?"

"Owen has our weapons, he'll be here shortly. I don't know offhand what we have."

"Well, with the two of you, you've almost doubled our fighting force," Buffy said. "Just- Egh."

Amy smiled and turned to Xanatos, "We're still working with her on showing gratitude."

"Show gratitude if we survive," Xanatos said sternly. "And what do you mean, _almost_ doubled? Unless you're counting that vampire trying to slink away?"

"Angel!?"

Angel stopped his slinking and turned around. He took a deep breath and hung his head in shame, "I'm not like you. I'm afraid."

"Why are you here?" Buffy had to ask.

"To help."

"Right up until it gets dangerous," Buffy noted. "Fine. You wanna help without facing a horde of vampires? Find Zabooboo-"

"Zabuto," Xanatos corrected.

"...and Jenny Calendar's clan, and let them know what's happening. Think you can do that?"

Angel looked down at at the grass for a minute before he looked up, nodded, and took off without another word.

"Do you think we can trust him to find your allies?" Owen asked as he arrived.

"Depends. The Hyenas will at least let him talk. Zabooboo will probably dust him on sight. I'm hoping he visits Jenny first," Buffy said.

"Then why send him there at all?"

"If he dusts, one less vamp to worry about. If he doesn't, Sam might _possibly_ have a way to stop the Apocalypse. Or he might shoot us in the back. Can't be sure. If we're really lucky, they'll kill each other so I don't have to deal with either of them. But the Hyena clan should be useful, right?" Buffy asked Amy. Giles, Willow, and Amy had been on their way back from training them when they'd run into Kendra and the Three.

Amy squirmed. "Remember how bad we were when we first started?"

Buffy winced and gave a small hiss.

"...they're worse."

"So we should probably just go without them?" Buffy wondered.

"What is this 'Hyena clan' you're talking about?" Xanatos broke in to ask.

Buffy and Amy gave them a quick rundown of the empowered high-schoolers.

"Five more people would be a great help if we can wait for them. At the very least, we can arm them even if they're no good at hand to hand. Owen?"

Owen nodded and bowed slightly, "I'm on it, sir," he responded, leaving. He came back a short time later with some very rudimentary stakes and spears.

"Spears are no good," Buffy declared. "We tried them."

Xanatos smiled at Buffy like she was a favorite daughter who had spoken out of turn, but said something so cute and innocent that he couldn't hide the smile from his face. "No, not from the air, they wouldn't be the best choice. But those of us who are going to remain on the ground will be quite thankful for the increased reach they give."

* * *

Buffy and Amy scouted the town and found an army of vampires leaving the school as if the bell had just rung to let them out of class for the night.

Neither of them knew where their radios were, though they thought they had probably left them back in that alley in their haste to escape. They hadn't even thought to look for them before leaving Buffy's house, since they had no intention of splitting up. But then they had run into David Xanatos again. Luckily, he had provided both of the gargoyles with new radios and also given one to Jenny Calendar once they found her and her Hyena clan. The girls radioed in the vampires' location.

"We're on our way," Jenny said.

There was no response from Xanatos but when the girls repeated themselves and asked for his reply, Owen had answered that Mr. Xanatos's helmet was off but he would make sure he got the message.

Their message delivered, the girls decided it was time to soften the vampires up before the cavalry arrived. Unfortunately, their crossbows were also likely still in that alley, but with four javelins apiece, they figured they could take out a few vamps and also keep them distracted when the ground troops arrived.

The attack did not go well. The first javelins hit their marks but what they hadn't counted on was the vampires returning fire. Some of their own javelins, along with many large rocks, were returned to them with great force. It was the first time anyone had thrown anything back at them. Both gargoyles swerved, hit each other, and fell from the air. Between the fall and their earlier beating, neither put up much of a fight on the ground.

Next, Owen and the Hyena clan arrived. They would have been right on time had Buffy and Amy had time to throw all their javelins, as it was they were just a little late. They were wielding spears against the monsters. The spears gave them a decided reach advantage, which Owen and Jenny were able to turn into several kills apiece. However, the rest of the clan wasn't up to the challenge. They were too inexperienced and hadn't trained with spears or trained at working together. In the end, Owen lay on the ground, his glasses and several ribs broken, with Jenny crying nearby, clutching a knee twisted the wrong way. The children were scattered about, not as physically broken as the adults, but mentally broken at seeing their two best fighters taken apart by sheer numbers.

Xanatos arrived a minute later, carrying Zabuto, whom he set down near the vampires. Zabuto was a man on fire. He had trained most of his life to fight vampires and made the biggest dent in their numbers of anybody that night before he too was overwhelmed by numbers and preternatural strength. Meanwhile, Xanatos flew up from where he dropped Zabuto off but was also hit by large rocks, just as the flesh and blood gargoyles had been. One hit a wing and spun him around. The next hit the small jet engine on his back, causing a loud explosion that sent the armored man sailing deep into the night and out of the fight. Zabuto used the distraction of the loud noise and bright light to kill two more vampires before he was finally put down for good.

The Master stepped forward. "That's it? I had expected more, somehow. Oh well." He looked down at his feet and noticed Jenny. "A gypsy? It's been so long since I tasted the blood of one of your tribe," he said as he picked her up and put her on her feet. A muffled cry of pain was heard as Jenny was forced to put weight on her injured leg. "Ah, the sweet tears of pain," he said to his gathered army as he opened his mouth and bent his head to her neck.

Then the slow clapping started. CLAP... CLAP... CLAP. The vampire, Angel, emerged. "I have to admit, I didn't think they had a chance, but I thought they'd make a better show of it. You know, at least put up a fight. The way they've decimated your guys up until now."

"Angelus," the Master said, pulling back from the unbroken skin of his next meal. "It's been so long. Has the prodigal son finally returned?"

"You didn't think I'd swear my undying allegiance to you while you were still trapped down there, did you?"

"Yes. Yes, I did."

"No," Angel countered. "I had to be sure. I had to know if the prophesies were true. Speaking of, where's that Annoying One?"

"She served her purpose," the Master smiled evilly. "And your name for her is apt. She annoyed me so I killed her."

By that point, Angel was into the group of vampires and standing in front of the Master himself. He pointed to Jenny, still held in the Master's grip. "You gonna eat that?"

The Master cocked what had once been an eyebrow at him.

"Well, you weren't the one the gypsies cursed," Angel shrugged as if it weren't a big deal. "It's not a big deal. If you want to eat her, you go ahead and eat her. There's plenty of others to eat. Who knows, I might run across another gypsy in another hundred years or so. I might even choose to eat that one. I mean, god knows, eating that last one worked out _so well_ for me." He laid the sarcasm on a little thick with that last sentence.

The Master considered those words and decided that discretion was probably the better part of valor. He handed the gypsy woman over to Angel. "She's all yours."

"Thanks!" Angel said brightly. He took her and turned so his back was to the Master and Darla, the two vampires he most feared seeing what was about to happen. There were vampires behind Jenny too, but hopefully none could see what was in his coat. He grabbed her hands and roughly stuck them behind him and into his coat as if he were getting them out of his way so he could feed; hopefully she would feel one of the stakes he always kept there for protection, along with the gun that Xander had given him when they had found each other.

She found them both. The gunshot, when it came, was a lot louder than Angel had been expecting. He was also annoyed that she hadn't drawn the gun out and had simply shot straight through his trench-coat. He really liked that coat. He turned around to see the Master falling to the ground with a bullet hole under his eye. The Master fell to his knees and then face down on the pavement. The back of the Master's head was red and gray with blood and brains intermingled in the huge hole in his head. He wasn't going to be recovering from that any time soon. Angel bent down and staked him before any of the assembled vampires could recover their wits and realize what had just happened.

"No!" Darla screamed. She lunged for Angel's face, intent on scratching his eyes out, but a second gunshot stopped her. Darla clutched her neck, blood welling between her fingers as she felt the wound.

Jenny took another hopping step back and pulled the trigger again. But this time the bullet went off into the dark as she backed into a vampire and he pulled her arms out.

"Nah, uh, uh. That's-" was all he got out before he turned to dust.

In his place was the biggest, meanest gargoyle any of the vampires had ever seen. His glowing, white eyes were so inhuman that they scared even the inhuman monsters. His deep, panting breaths made it clear he was already angry and itching for a fight. But it was the look of pure fury on his face that made everyone pause. At his roar, everyone started moving.

From the bushes nearby, a net sprung out and tangled up at least a dozen vampires, taking them out of the fight. And then a red, metal gargoyle jumped into the melee Xander had started.

The first time the non-vampires had attacked, they had come in piecemeal and the vampires were able to see them all coming and prepare themselves. This time, their attackers were already amongst them.

Jenny took aim at Darla again, the vampire that had busted her knee, but the already wounded vampiress fled before she could get a shot off. Her next targets were the Three. They were too far away and moving too fast to try for head-shots. Instead, she tried to poke holes in the armor she knew they wore so that someone would be able to stake them later. And then she was out of bullets. With her knee the way it was, she wasn't going anywhere. She switched her stake to her right hand and waited for a vamp to come close.

Tor was not the brightest student. But what he lacked in smarts, he made up for in stupidity. The special kind of stupid that did stuff like... biting vampires. A vampire went down clutching his head and Tor spit the vamp's ear at his next opponent, that sort of crazy made even vampires pause. Which was when Rhonda staked them in the back. Kyle staked the one on the ground and the group moved on.

Angel was unarmed, having given one stake to the gypsy woman and having lost the other dusting The Master. However, that was not a bad thing, he decided as he was quickly mobbed under. Being near the center of the group and being the 'traitor' made him an obvious target. Luckily, none of the other vampires were carrying stakes either, so they just held him down as they pummeled him.

Sam Zabuto was rethinking his last choice—not about coming here—but the last shot he'd taken. At the time, he knew he was about to die anyway and taking another demon or two with him had seemed like a good idea. But now he was so injured that he was barely fending off one vampire. He was surprised when that vampire turned to dust, and he was even more surprised when he recognized the gargoyle, Buffy, as his savior. He tried, but his brain wouldn't let him; by the time he could utter the words, the two gargoyles had already moved on to the next vampire. He whispered, "Thank you," anyway.

Owen was also injured, but he was technically a supernatural being and so... he cheated. He didn't heal his injuries, but he did dull the pain for now and that let him get back into the action. He was very used to training with a staff, and a spear was so much like that weapon. He was too injured go chasing after vampires, but fortunately for Ms. Calendar, he was enough close to her to able to watch her back, as she was in no shape to move much either. She could hop just enough to surprise the few vamps that came after her, but Owen... he was death incarnate to any that came near.

Speaking of death incarnate, Xander was tearing through vampires like a gargoyle possessed. And then he came upon the Three again. He couldn't fly, but he could sure as hell jump, and the Three were not expecting an attack from above. Xander landed on one of them, squashing him into the ground. He was reminded of his very first kill again as he reached into the vampire's throat and pulled the head right off the body. Xander turned to face the others as he tossed the head away dismissively and growled in fury. 'The Two' just didn't sound as intimidating as 'The Three' and they seemed a lot less sure of themselves than the last time they had fought. He gave them a feral grin.

But it turned out that they were still much better fighters than he was. And without the element of surprise, he was toast. Even with the holes in their armor, he still couldn't get a shot in. His other wing was now broken as well and the first wing was hanging by a thread.

"How about picking on someone your own size?"

Xander had never felt so happy to hear a slightly-echoey, metalic voice. Fresh muscles and/or servos were exactly what that fight needed. Plus, armored vamps definitely deserved to fight someone else in armor. Xander kept half an eye on that fight in case he was needed as he took stock. Behind him, Jenny Calendar was standing with a stake in hand, but not going anywhere. To the left, Sam Zabuto was hunched over and didn't seem up to more fighting. Clockwise from him the Hyena clan was surrounding a body. Xander did a quick count and surmised it was Tor. His chest was rising and falling, but they weren't going anywhere either. Glasses Guy, Owen, was limping over to where a bunch of vamps were pinned under a net. The vamps in question started struggling more earnestly again and were finally able to make a hole and a run for it. They ran into Buffy and Amy returning from chasing some other vamps. A third of them didn't make it past the two girls.

"Let them go," Owen ordered when it looked like the girls were about to give chase again. Then they looked over at the only fight still going, Xanatos versus the Two. "Your friend needs help," Owen pointed out, keeping them from interfering in that fight.

"Gentle. Be gentle," Xander hissed as the girls set to rebinding his wings. They all really hoped that stone sleep could fix the damage or else Xander might never fly again.

Everyone watched David Xanatos fight in his armor. The fight between him and two of the Three went on for several minutes, with neither side able to get the upper hand. Owen finally decided that they'd had enough. He reared back and threw his spear with all his might. He hit one of the vampires but missed the heart. No matter, both the vampire and Xanatos grabbed the spear. But David only needed part of it. The pointy part. He broke off a stake-sized bit and used that to end the fight in less than a minute. Everyone else let out a deep sigh of relief. Zabuto and Jenny both collapsed in pain. The rest of the hyena clan knelt near their fallen comrade.

"Owen?" Xanatos said.

"I'm on it, sir," Owen said, with a cell phone already to his ear. "Yes, we need an ambulance—or better yet, three. We're at..."

As his assistant called for medical attention for the humans, Xanatos came over to the gargoyles. "Can you walk?"

Buffy and Amy, despite their own wounds, were able to help Xander to his feet.

"Enough," Xander answered.

"I'll make sure everyone here gets to the hospital, then I'll swing by your house before sunrise."

Xander looked to the east. Sunrise was several hours away still. Two horrific fights in one night. Both had seemed to take forever and yet no time at all. The three gargoyles started limping back home.

And in the middle of the street, a gel-haired vampire cried over his ruined coat. It was a really nice coat. It billowed really well.

* * *

Willow did not wake up that night. The next day, Joyce, with the assistance of Owen, set up many full length mirrors around where the gargoyles were sleeping in her living room, making sure that every drop of sunlight that could be absorbed by them, was. Those mirrors were packed carefully away before the gargoyles awoke lest the shards of flying skin-stone break them all and give them a century or two of bad luck.

Everyone was so happy that Willow was alive, awake, and able to remember her name that everyone forgot their other injuries.

Until Joyce asked, "Xander, how are your wings?"

Xander instinctively flexed them before he could even think about the question and was relieved by the outcome. "Good."

"So, what happened last night? Why can't I remember? Was Xander hurt?" Willow asked, rapid fire. Her last clear memories turned out to be from several nights before.

"We... got in a fight," Giles started.

"With some super tough vamps," Buffy continued.

"Oh, yes. That reminds me," Joyce interrupted. "Owen, could you?"

Owen walked to the front door where five boxes were stacked. He brought one over to the coffee table, set it down, and opened it. He pulled back the cloth covering the actual product and held it up.

"These arrived for you today, around noon," Joyce waved to the chainmail armor Owen was holding up.

Even Mr. Giles couldn't help himself, and allowed himself a loud groan with Buffy, Amy, and Xander. They could have really used that a day earlier. If only he had sprung for rush shipping, but the price for that was nearly criminal.

"Is everyone else okay?" Amy asked. Willow was getting a brief description of the night from Buffy but that stopped when they heard the question and the lack of a quick answer.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Zabuto died shortly after arriving at the hospital," Owen said. His careful monotone was probably perfect for delivering bad news like that. "Ms. Calendar has been flown to Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, for surgery to repair her knee. Mr. Xanatos is seeing to it personally that she will be able to use both legs again. The rest of her group is also with her. Among them, Tor Hauer, is the other serious casualty."

There was a collective gasp from the children.

"Children, 'casualty' also means '_injured_ in battle', not just 'killed'," Giles set the record straight.

Owen continued, "Mr. Hauer shows every sign of a significantly increased healing rate. Mr. Xanatos is also taking care of covering that up. There was some worry that his intelligence was reduced by a blow to the head, but his friends agreed that there was no measurable difference."

Xander snorted and got a playful smack on his shoulder from Amy for his trouble.

"Which brings us to tonight." Owen looked at Giles, "I took the liberty of calling the watchers council on your behalf and informed them of the fates of Kendra and Mr. Zabuto." The head of the council had been very irate and had demanded to speak with Rupert 'at once.' Owen had told him, truthfully, that he was sleeping off injuries sustained in the battle against The Master. "A Mr. Travers is expecting your phone call as soon as you are awake."

"Of course he is," Giles grumbled quietly. More loudly he went on, "Unfortunately, he will likely demand our immediate departure from Sunnydale."

"The 'Sold' sign went up in the yard this morning," Joyce said. "I'm packed and ready to go."

Everyone turned to look at the darkened front yard where, sure enough, a sign listing a realtor now stood where none had the night before. Right below the realtor's smiling face hung another sign saying, "Sold."

Buffy turned back, "Wait. Really?"

Joyce smiled. "Buffy, we knew this was going to happen soon. What little I didn't have packed before, Owen helped me pack today." It wasn't like they didn't have time to kill. And Joyce wasn't going to sleep until she was sure her daughter was okay.

"What about the Hellmouth?" Buffy turned to Giles.

Giles reached up to pull off his glasses to clean them, an action he hadn't done for quite a while. "Well, let us see; The Master is dead, almost all of his kiss—no jokes, please," he looked at Xander who gave a mock 'shocked' look, "is dust, and the rest are likely to leave this place. They might not even need to send the new Slayer here at all. But whether they do or not, it's not our business any longer. We ceded control of this town to the watchers council and so leave we must."

* * *

Excerpt from (possible) sequel:

"Do you understand the irony in that you were the ones who escalated this and started using guns first?" Darla asked as she blow the smoke from her twin Berettas. "Guns don't even work on vampires very well."

Jenny's eyes were drawn to the prone and moaning form of Angel nearby.

Darla's eyes followed hers. "I said 'not well'. He's not dead... yet." She ejected the empty magazine from one gun, replaced it with a fresh one, and touched the lever on the slide to load the first cartridge. Then she repeated the procedure on the other gun as she walked forward. She stopped at a point where she couldn't possibly miss, but the human was too far away to reach her and attack either. "Here, let me show you," she said as she leveled both guns at her...

* * *

Author's Notes: "If I can't walk, I'll crawl." - Finally got something from Firefly in here.

Yay, it's done! I'd like to thank everyone who recommended my story and most of the people who reviewed it. Who knew cartoons could be so controversial? Anyway, if you enjoyed this story, don't forget to leave a review.


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